Reploid Anatomy 101
by Menolly5600
Summary: RockmanMegaman X fic. How exactly is a reploid put together on the inside? And how does this effect what they can or can't do? Take a look into life at MHHQ. UPDATED! CH 12!
1. Digestive System

**Disclaimer:**

Rockman X and all its characters do not belong to me. The reploid anatomy design is my own creation. I thought it up to explain certain human-like actions and abilities that reploids in my stories might display. Please don't sue or steal. Thanks.

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Reploid Anatomy 101 – Digestive System

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_The way to a (reploid's) heart is through his stomach_.

..._Unless you're trying to kill him, then it's easier to go through the chest._

The synthetic digestive system acts as a secondary power generation system by breaking down food the reploid eats into its component molecules and extracting the nutrients and sugars for use in the circulatory system. The elements of the food that cannot be used for the energy conduction and transfer in the circulatory system are collected and diverted to the plasma fusion generator where they are converted into plasma for use as fuel in the fusion generator. The result is that, despite the fact that reploids can and do eat, they don't need to use the 'little 'ploid's room' as there is no waste material from the energy extraction process.

Despite this, reploids do not have to eat, though most find eating to be an enjoyable experience. The addition of the nutrients and plasma fuel is not necessary for the reploid to function. However, the power flow and efficiency of the circulatory system is increased when the extracted nutrients and sugars are added. Also, the plasma generator does not require the extra plasma fuel from the waste material from the food. Every plasma fusion generator has a built in plasma particle collector that continuously extracts plasma molecules from the surrounding atmosphere and stores them in the plasma fuel cells. A similar collection method is employed for plasma based weapons systems including but not limited to various plasma busters, cannons, and blasters. When a reploid's energy levels are severely depleted, eating is often used as an easy and enjoyable method to replenish their plasma fuel cells and increase energy output.

When food is ingested by a reploid it is held in the synthetic stomach. Bio-chemical compounds produced in the stomach are used to break down the food into its molecular components. Nutrients and sugars are then filtered out of the stomach and transferred to the circulatory system. While the remainder, is collected and diverted to the plasma fusion generator.

The circulatory system is a combined system of interconnected arterial tubes that flow through a mechanical pump that maintains a constant flow of a mixture of coolant and nutrient-rich energy conduction fluid throughout the reploid's body. The liquid carried in the reploid's 'veins' serves as a coolant and lubricant for the reploids mechanical and energy systems as well as providing a conduit for energy flow to many of the more delicate systems of a reploid's anatomy. This includes the numerous neuro-electrical stimulators and sensors distributed throughout the synthetic flesh that serve to register the sensation of touch to the reploid's processors as well as to imitate the shift and flex of muscle movements.

The digestive system includes safety measures in the form of the emergency system purge. The emergency system purge is an automated response to a dangerous substance detected in the digestive system. If the sensor systems detect a dangerous concentration of a substance in the digestive system, it will automatically purge the system to avoid further damage. This occurs when high quantities of a substance that can cause damage to the systems is detected; or when a harmful substance that can cause direct damage to the reploids systems is ingested. This includes chemicals that would cause the bio-chemical compounds to become unbalanced or block the nutrient filters, high concentrations of acid or base chemicals that could eat through the synthetic stomach and cause damage to other internal systems and circuits, and chemicals that could cause disastrous imbalances to the circulatory and coolant system that would result in damage to the neuro-electrical stimulators and sensors. All of these instances result in an emergency system purge to clear the chemical threat from the synthetic stomach. Since there is only one direct path into the synthetic stomach for solid food, that's also the path the contents of the synthetic digestive system take when being purged. This results in the reploid throwing up.

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Rockman X, Maverick Hunter, Commander of the 17th Unit, stared dubiously down into the bowl in front of him. It looked like chili. It smelled like chili. But he was sure there was a catch somewhere. Glancing up to make sure Zero wasn't watching, he discreetly focused his sensors on the bowl in front of him. Hrm... Sensors said it was chili as well.

X lifted his spoon and poked warily at a lump of what he assumed was a bean and said, "I'm still not so sure about this."

"Relax, it can't be that bad." Axl sat beside him at the table, in his civilian clothes like X and Zero. "Besides, it smells pretty good." Axl picked up his spoon.

"You've never seen him cook before." X muttered as Zero dropped into the seat across from them and plunked his own bowl on the table.

"So... What do ya think?" Zero asked as he picked up his spoon and gestured at their bowls.

"Er... It smells pretty good." X ventured.

"You mean you haven't tried it yet? Come on, it's not that bad! I got the recipe from Rodriguez over in the 24th. Besides, I worked really hard on this. I'm sure I got it right!" Zero frowned at his best friend as X poked dubiously at the bowl with his spoon.

"Well I think it looks great!" Axl smiled as he scooped up a spoonful and took a bite. X watched him warily, waiting for a reaction as he chewed.

"Well?" Zero grinned hopefully at the younger reploid as he swallowed the bite.

"Wow! This is really great, Zero! And here X was saying what an awful cook you are!"

"He did, did he now?" Zero turned to glare at X who swallowed and cringed before glaring at Axl.

"Yup," Axl grinned obliviously as he continued to eat the chili. "Everyone in your rec room was warning me off of trying your latest creation. X was saying how you could burn water and just about everything you made was totally inedible. Even Jynx mentioned how it was probably because you're a bachelor and all. Not even the sense God gave a monkey when it comes to the kitchen."

X winced again and started digging single-mindedly into the chili as Zero turned his blue-eyed glare onto his best friend. "Inedible, huh?" Zero glared at X as though his eyes might shoot lasers and burn a hole in his head.

"Eh heh." X winced and smiled helplessly. "You got to admit, Zero, most stuff you've tried to cook ended up a disaster. Half the time you cause a fire and terrorize the kitchen staff, and the other half it turns out tasting awful."

"Hmph. All I needed was a little practice. Now, you see? All that practice paid off." Zero nodded smugly as he folded his arms across his chest.

X blinked and then looked down at his half empty bowl. "Huh. This is pretty good. Spicy though. What's it called again?"

"Well, Rodriguez' recipe was a little bland when it came to spices, so I added a bit more zip to it. I call it, _Zero's Emergency Klaxon Chili_!" Zero grinned proudly as he proclaimed the name in a booming melodramatic voice.

"Well, Rodriguez is human, so I guess they can only handle things so spicy. Can I have some more?" Axl asked as he held up his empty bowl.

"Sure thing kid!" Zero grinned as he snagged Axl's bowl and stood up to ladle some more of the chili from the large pot he had set on the end of the table next to them. "At least somebody appreciates all the work I put into this." Zero grumped as he sat back down and glared at X who just grinned sheepishly at him.

Axl grinned and pulled the bowl over to him. Just as he lifted the spoon to take another bite, a weird expression crossed his face, as he froze in mid-motion. Then his face twisted into a grimace as he shifted uncomfortably on the bench before hissing in a breath and dropping his spoon with a clatter.

"What's wrong?" X asked as he turned to his friend in concern.

"You all right kid?" Zero asked, concerned, as he leaned forward.

"Nnnng... I... I don't feel so good." Axl groaned as he bent forward, his left hand twisting in the front of his shirt over his stomach.

"Do you think you need to go to the med ward?" X asked in concern as he stood up and laid a hand on Axl's shoulder. Just as he leaned over Axl to try to get a look at his face, X felt his stomach lurch and a weird sensation of an aching, twisting feeling flooded through his stomach. He hissed in surprise and bent forward, his hand reflexively going to his own stomach.

"Hey man, you all right?" Zero asked in a worried tone as he stood up. "What's wrong, X?"

X groaned as the lurching ache intensified. "Urrrng. I don't..." he abruptly cut himself off as Axl lurched to his feet, his hand clamped over his mouth as he bolted across the room for the trash receptacle up against the wall. A burning, lurching sensation filled X's throat as his stomach seemed to abruptly flip itself inside out. X spun around and sprinted for the trash receptacle beside Axl's bent over form. His own hand clapped over his mouth as the chili decided to take a round trip tour of his digestive tract.

Axl groaned miserably from where he was bent over the trash receptacle after emptying the contents of his stomach with extreme prejudice. He coughed and spat then glanced over at X who was currently wheezing and hacking out the last of lunch. "X," he wheezed, "remind me never to eat anything Zero cooks ever again." X nodded emphatically as he spat and grimaced at the colorful mess in the trash receptacle he was currently bent double over.

Zero blinked over at his two best friends as they lost their lunch into the trash receptacles. Then he turned to regard the chili in its titanium-alloy pot. "Hmm. Maybe I made it too spicy. After all, it did eat through the other two pots while I was cooking it."

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The End

Owari

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Please review. Tell me what you all think of the 'reploids can eat' explanation and example.

Feed me please. I'm so very hungry...


	2. Effects of Alcohol on Reploid Systems

**Disclaimer:**

I do not now, nor have ever owned Rockman X / Megaman X. However, the story idea and reploid systems design is my own. Also, all characters in this fic, except for X, Zero, Alia, and Signas, are my own creations. They are not canon.

The various non-canon reploids I use in this fic are all long-time members of the 17th or 0th units, commanded by X and Zero, in my fiction universe. During off-duty times, the veteran unit members and X and Zero, are more friends than commanders and subordinates. These reploids have been members of their units for years and know each other well. This takes place sometime after X7, disregards the Rockman Zero storyline, and they are currently in a period of low maverick activity and are unwinding in the 0th unit recreation room.

Important:

Rating for this chapter is raised to PG-13 due to portrayals of drunkenness. There are a few mild curse words used in this chapter as well.

Also, this is not shonen-ai. Take it as such if you want, but that was not my intention.

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Reploid Anatomy 101 – The Effects of Alcohol on Reploid Systems

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_Be careful your eyes aren't bigger than your stomach..._

_Especially when it comes to making bets._

Alcohol contains sugars and thus can be used in the nutrient-rich aqueous energy transfer system, which is combined with the coolant distribution network. These two systems share the same distribution network of tubes and arteries that carry the liquid mixture throughout the reploid's body to all of its systems to maintain safe temperatures and to distribute power to certain systems.

However, while the sugars in alcoholic beverages are helpful to a reploid's systems, the alcohol itself is not. The alcohol is filtered out of the stomach and into the circulatory system along with the sugars and nutrients. There, a sufficiently large concentration of alcohol acts as a dampener on the energy flows, which can cause sluggishness, decreased reflexes and coordination, and diminished sensation from the sensors located in the synthflesh. It also acts against the coolant and causes the coolant compounds to begin breaking down. This causes a temperature rise as the coolant becomes less efficient. This can result in a flush to the skin as increased temperature alters the color of the synthflesh or in more severe instances a feverish state can occur.

Alcohol consumed in high enough quantities or concentrations can result in system shutdown to protect the higher processor functions from a dangerous temperature rise. Shortly before system shutdown, various sensitive systems can experience malfunctions; including but not limited to, optical and sensory systems, equilibrium and coordination centers, and language systems and speech synthesizers. An emergency system shutdown to avoid system damage results in an unconscious condition. Also, high alcohol consumption can result in an emergency system purge if the concentrations are high enough to cause processor damage, before a system shutdown can occur, from the massive temperature spike that would occur if high enough concentrations of alcohol entered the coolant system in a short period of time. This results in the reploid throwing up whatever substances are in the synthetic digestive system at the time.

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Commander X of the 17th Maverick Hunter Unit sighed as he dropped his head to the palm of his hand. What vengeful deity had he pissed off to deserve this? Did Mavericks have a patron deity? X stifled a groan as a hand slung itself over his shoulders.

"Hey, hey. Ya know what? Have you seen my buddy around here? I'm sure he's here somewhere, I invited him to unwind ya know. Oi! X! X, where are ya?" Zero pulled his arm off of X and twisted away from where he was leaning on him to shout to the room in general.

Jax twisted around on the couch from the movie playing on the wall screen to look back at him. "Oi, he's right next to you!" He shouted back with a grin as he waved his beer can haphazardly around above his head, sloshing the contents out with each swing.

"Damnit! Cut that out! You're gonna ruin my shirt!" Vixen snarled at him, laying her black-tipped, furry ears back against her skull as she shoved him in the shoulder. Jax yelped and lost his balance, falling off the couch and spilling the bowl of popcorn all across the floor before he rolled into the table in front of the couch. The Taj Mahal of beer cans that Wolfe had been carefully building crumbled in a 10-point table-quake on the Richter scale.

Wolfe snarled, baring his teeth as his hackles raised. Snagging the closest object, which happened to be Tag's helmet, he pitched it at Jax as the other reploid unsteadily weaved to his feet. Jax went back down with a yelp as the helmet glanced off of his head, right between the eyes and careened across the room to land in front of Snake where it rolled to a stop beside his feet. Snake tripped over it and went down in a tangle of limbs with a shout.

X groaned and rubbed at his temples in a gesture he'd picked up from humans. "X! There you are man! Hey you gotta meet this guy! He's really cool." Zero cried as he turned back to X and latched onto him. "Hey where'd he go?" Zero glanced blearily around looking for the reploid he had been talking to earlier.

X sighed. "Zero, you're drunk. You're beyond drunk."

"Yeah, ain't it great!" Zero grinned as he ruffled X's black hair before practically falling forward into his lap.

"Ooh shiny!" Snake crowed as he scooped up Tag's empty helmet and buffed it with his forearm before plopping it onto his head with a grin. Snake then staggered up to his feet and stumbled over towards where Tag was lying on the ground beside the pool table. Snake tripped three times on the way there, before he dropped to his knees beside Tag. "Hey, hey, Tag, man. I can't feel my legs! Isn't that wild!" He grinned as he shook the shorter reploid's shoulder vigorously. "Oh hey, I think you dropped this man." Snake reached up and pulled off the helmet. "'Ere. Lemme help ya." He levered the unconscious reploid up to a sitting position and plonked the helmet on backwards. "There ya go!" He grinned as he let Tag go. Tag, being out cold, fell back over with a clunk.

X sighed. "Come on, sit up Zero." X began to lever his friend back to a sitting position on the couch they were taking up space on against the wall.

"Hey, hey." Zero mumbled as he twisted in X's grip to look up at him. "Heeeey. You're beautiful, man." Zero reached up and poked him in the nose. "Didja know that? You my friend..." X looked at him in confused surprise as Zero poked his finger into his chest. "Are one handsome guy." Then Zero pouted and reached up to bonk X on top of the head. "Why the hell haven't you asked Alia out yet! No way she'd say no to that cute face." Zero reached up and pinched his cheek as X turned bright red and swatted his hand away.

"Nuh-uh. We are not discussing this. You are soo wasted." X frowned as he struggled to contain his blush and get Zero out of his lap and back to sitting up. "What self-destructive idiocy got into your personality matrix to make you agree to that bet!"

Zero frowned as X pushed him back against the couch back beside him. "Not idiocy. I won didn't I? I get 500 zenny from Tempo! Right guys!" Zero shouted to the room.

"Yeah!" A ragged cheer rose up as beer cans waved randomly around the room.

"And we're gonna get X to ask Alia out! Right boys!" Zero bellowed as he stood up and raised a fist in victory.

"Yeah!" Another round of cheers and catcalls filled the air.

"Whoohoo! GO X!!" Jax shouted as he jumped onto the table and raised the cheese log from the party platter over his head like a sword while waving around his shirt in his other hand.

"Get down!" Another shout went up as Jax was hailed with popcorn and pretzels.

"Put your shirt back on!" Echo shouted.

"Take it off!" Snake whooped from his perch on the pool table, trying to balance cue balls on each of Dyne's eye sockets. Dyne was oblivious to everything, passed out cold, sprawled over the pool table on his back.

"We can't see the movie!" Todd shouted as he pelted Jax with an empty beer can. Jax stumbled to the edge of the table. There was an ominous crack as the leg splintered and the table gave way, tumbling Jax off and to the ground.

X groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Signas is going to have your synthflesh for a wall hanging, Zero. That's the fourth piece of furniture this month."

"Don't you worry that spiffy little processor of yours, X, my man." Zero grinned as he slung his arm around X's shoulders again. "You'll be taking Alia out on the town in no time! Me and the guys'll take good care of you."

"That's what I'm afraid of." X moaned as he shook his head. Zero just grinned and gave him a one-armed hug, ruffling his hair again. X shrugged him off, ducking under the ruffling hand.

"Oi! Is there any beer left?" Zero shouted out as he stumbled to his feet and staggered away from the couch toward the cooler under the pool table.

"No. Zero, you've had enough. More than enough. I'm amazed you're still conscious." X scrambled to catch Zero, before he could hit the ground, as he pitched over sideways.

"Bah! A little something like that won't knock the Great Zero out!" Zero growled as he struggled to stand up straight.

"A little something! Zero, you drank an entire tub full of vodka! I'm amazed you could even fit that much inside your systems! You must be fluid-logged! I'm surprised you don't slosh when you move!" X cried as he struggled to keep his grip on the squirming Zero. Abruptly, Zero stilled. X blinked. "Zero?"

"Guuh. I don't feel so good..." Zero moaned as he sagged in X's grip, face down to the floor, his long blond hair obscuring his face from view. "Prolly shouldn'ta had that chili dog..." Zero groaned as X struggled to hold him up.

"Zero? Come on, hold it together." X grunted in concern as he struggled to pull Zero up from his position, bent double over X's arms.

"Guuuunh." Zero moaned before he convulsed in X's grip and proceeded to empty his stomach.

"Gah! Damnit Zero!" X yelped as he tried to avoid the splash of mainly partially broken down vodka and other alcoholic beverages. His only response was a groaning hack from the limp bundle of Zero in his arms. X twisted, shifting Zero to one arm and reached around with his free right hand to gather Zero's long blond ponytail up in his hand and pull it back and away from his face and the growing mess.

X sighed as Zero's heaves finally broke off and he went limp again. "Maybe next time you'll listen to me when I tell you agreeing to Tempo's bets is a _bad_ idea. Dyne and Tag already figured that out before you agreed. And they're going to need their stomachs pumped before they'll come back online." Zero just gave a quiet grunt that stretched into a moan.

From across the room Jax's voice whooped, "Go Zero!"

The answering multi-voiced shout of, "Get down!" drowned out anything else Jax might've said.

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The End

Owari

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Please review. Tell me how I'm doing on characterization. I'm working on getting how I want X, Zero, and Axl's personalities down.

Tell me how you liked it. Gush if you want. I love gushing reviews, they make me go 'Squee!' and then I huggle the review.

I felt that Zero needed to share in the experience of X and Axl from chapter 1. However, disturbingly, I've noticed that out of four chapters I've worked out, three of them involve throwing up of some type. That was not at all intended when I set out on this strange, strange journey, and just ended up happening. My apologies. I'll try to come up with more chapters that vary in events more so. However, the reasons for the poor guys losing their lunches are different each time, so I suppose it's not that bad.

Anyway, push the button and tell me what you think!


	3. Anatomically Correct

**Disclaimer:**

I do not now, nor ever have, or will own Rockman X. I do not own X, Axl, Alia, Zero, or Signas. Hawke is my own character and is non-canon. Explanation of reploid gender or lack thereof is my own theory as is the reploid internal anatomical structure. Please no stealy.

If you ask nicely I may let you use my technical mumbo-jumbo for your own fics if you can't come up with your own explanations for reploids' human-like abilities.

**Important:**

The rating for this chapter is PG. However, there are a few mild curses and references to sex in a general fashion. None of the references are graphic or specific.

If you feel this rating is too low, please let me know and provide reasons. If appropriate, I will change the rating. Thank you.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Anatomically Correct**

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_Anatomically Correct?_

..._Upgrades optional._

Based on records and information regarding Dr. Light and his interactions with his creations, the humanoid androids Blues, Rock, and Roll, it can be extrapolated that he would have likely considered his final creation, the reploid, Rockman X, in the same manner he regarded his earlier humanoid type creations. Because he regarded Blues, Rock, and Roll as though they were his own children, it is likely that he would have regarded Rockman X in the same fashion. Particularly since X is a reploid and was the first self-aware, sentient android that was capable of emotion and making his own decisions. Therefore, it is possible to theorize on his motives when designing X in regards to his viewing X as his son.

Just as any father would wish for his son, Dr. Light wanted X to have a happy life and to experience life and living to its fullest. To that effect, he designed X to be as human-like as possible to be able to experience the same things that humans could.

While Dr. Light hoped that X could live a peaceful and happy life, he also knew that sometimes, dangerous things happen. If X was ever attacked, or found it necessary to fight in order to defend himself or others, Dr. Light wanted to make certain that X would not only be able to protect himself and others, but also be able to win the fight and continue living. To do this, Dr. Light designed and equipped X with the most powerful and sophisticated weapons systems and optional additional armors that he could design and create. Just as any father would, Dr. Light wanted to protect his son.

Because X was capable of experiencing emotion, Dr. Light hoped that he would experience friendship and love and that he would receive those emotions from others in turn. However, since X was a one of a kind, Dr. Light knew that it was possible there might not be others like him for some time after he was activated. This meant that any relationships he formed would likely be with humans. Dr. Light wanted X to experience the entire spectrum of love, not only the emotional and mental side of the emotion, but also the physical. To permit this, Dr. Light designed X to be anatomically correct, outwardly, as a male human, of somewhere around 16 or 17 years of age.

When the first few generations of reploids were built by humans, there was concern that deviation from the original template design could cause problems. While the outer synthetic flesh layer could be altered to give unique features to each reploid, and things such as height could be altered, changing the layout of the internal systems could cause problems with the sophisticated systems that were still largely mysterious to the scientists. The result was that the first generations of reploids were all humanoid type. The scientists also designed anatomically correct female reploids as counterparts for the male ones; and possibly, because some of the scientists didn't get out much.

As the internal systems of reploids became more fully understood, deviations from the original body template began to be designed and built. Humanoid animal designs began to crop up in the newer generations of reploids. Then even more bestial and animalistic designs were created and built. Making the animal type reploids anatomically correct was not a high priority, particularly considering some of the socio-cultural repercussions of having sentient animals capable of sexual acts with humanoids. To avoid this, most animal type reploids were built without the pertinent parts of anatomy. As a result, most animal type reploids chose what gender they wanted to be unless there was some particular gender-based feature the species they were based on had that was present in their design. For example, a reploid built to resemble a rooster would most likely not choose a female gender.

As more reploids were built, the design often became a matter of cost-effectiveness and design expediency. If the builder could not afford the extra cost of adding anatomically correct features, then they were left asexual. This occurred in various later generations of humanoid type, animal type, and humanoid-animal type reploids. Also, if the reploid was designed for a specific type of task from a batch generation template, such as a heavy artillery soldier or a sanitation engineer, and the task was not particularly constructive to a social life, then sometimes the anatomical features were left out of the design to save costs, particularly if the design was mass produced.

The result is that reploids can be anatomically accurate males or females, anatomically inaccurate males or females, or asexual. Most humanoid types are anatomically correct while most animal types lack those particular features.

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Commander Rockman X, of Elite Unit 17, was slightly irritated. Not that he showed it, X rarely lost his temper. The source of his irritation was, surprisingly, nowhere to be found. Hence, his irritation.

Commander Zero, leader of the Special Unit 0, had apparently vanished into thin air. Which, generally, was a bad thing. Particularly if he was wanted at Signas' office for a joint upper echelon staff meeting. Another sign that heralded the coming doom was that Zero was ignoring his communications unit, or had turned it off. That meant serious trouble; or Zero knew he was doing something that would get him into serious trouble, and probably drag X along with him.

X couldn't decide which scenario had more appeal.

And this was why X was currently searching Head Quarters from top to bottom, looking for the errant reploid. Alia had recruited Axl to help search as well. Alia was searching the grounds outside the main building while Axl was taking the above ground facilities. X had taken the underground levels for his search area.

They were meeting back at the main lobby in two minutes; just enough time for X to take the lift. Hopefully, Alia or Axl had found him. X had certainly had no luck tracking his best friend down. None of Zero's usual haunts had produced results, and neither had his search of less likely, but plausible locations.

Grumbling to himself after the lift doors closed behind him, leaving him alone in the lift car, X opened his comm. channel and tried to reach Zero again. Static. Again. What the hell was he doing?

Assuming it was not because Zero had been grievously injured or killed in a maverick attack no one else knew about, there were multiple possible reasons for his vanishing. None of which were particularly welcome. Zero could have gotten drunk and passed out somewhere out of the way, which was generally a bad way to start the day, and would bring Signas down on him for drinking while on-duty. Or, he could be off sulking and brooding somewhere, which was also not a pleasant thought. Or, Zero could be plotting something. Something dire, and terrible, and certain to involve X in some particularly embarrassing or unpleasant fashion. They usually did. X just hoped it didn't involve Alia and his relationship, or lack thereof. Or a vacation. Vacations always seemed to end badly when Zero was involved.

X stepped out of the lift and into the main lobby on the ground floor of Maverick Hunter Head Quarters. It was still early in the day, late morning sunshine streaming in through the massive glass windows that made up the front wall of the building in this area. The lobby itself was a wide-open circular atrium stretching up ten floors. The entire front wall of the atrium-lobby consisted of glass and titanium-alloy frames that stretched up ten stories and curved outward from the building. The first ten floors that fronted the atrium were either balconies off of hallways or glass windows into offices and conference rooms.

Hanging from the railing boxes of the balconies stretching up to the ceiling were hanging vines and various ferns and other plants. A few potted palms rose from the ground floor, stretching upwards, while boxes of flowering plants were splashes of bright color. Clusters of padded chairs and couches, centered around low tables were scattered across the tiled lobby floor. The main doors opened out onto the patio that descended in a series of stairs, with side ramps, to the lush gardens that sprawled across the Hunter Head Quarters' grounds. X could see the large fountain just past the steps, centered in a round section of the main pathway that led to the visitor parking lots and the main gates, or deeper into the compound, depending on which path you took from there.

Several front desk kiosks were located against the walls around the room, each manned with secretarial staff for each of the various purposes of each front desk setup. Each desk had a different purpose; among them, one was for recruitment, another for information and visitors, and another for staffing and quarters. Various humans and reploids were scattered sparsely across the lobby. Some were sitting at the low tables talking or even reading, others were passing through the lobby on their way in or out of the building, a few were talking to the humans and reploids staffing the desks.

Axl was waiting for him and Alia, perched on an overstuffed sofa arm. While X and Alia were on duty, and therefore in armor, Axl was currently off-duty, so he was in civilian clothes. Noticing X as he stepped forward, Axl hopped off and dusted his black jeans before heading over to greet him. "No luck, huh?"

"None. You?" X asked hopefully.

Axl shook his head, his messy red ponytail bouncing back and forth against his shoulder blades. Without his helmet, his hair didn't stick out from the back of his head nearly as much. He reached up and ran a hand through his loose bangs, pushing them out of his eyes. "I'm hoping Alia found him."

"And no one you talked to has seen him either?"

"Nope. Besides, my search grid was a long shot. Zero doesn't _do_ paperwork or offices very well. You know that."

X sighed. "Yeah. Was hoping to get lucky though."

Axl grinned wickedly. "Well, here comes Alia. Now's your chance." Axl was rewarded when X blinked in confusion for an instant before a vivid red blush flushed across his cheeks. Axl snickered as X glared at him and fought back the blush as Alia came up to them.

"Any luck guys?" Alia asked as she stopped next to X and glanced from face to face before blinking in curiosity. "What gives?" She focused her gaze on X as she said that.

"Nothing, just Axl hanging around Zero too much." X glared at Axl who was trying to keep a straight face.

"Oh you found him?"

"No. Unfortunately. We were hoping you found him, but I guess not, huh?" X replied as the red tint faded from his cheeks and he turned to fully face Alia.

"No sign of him. No one's seen him either."

"Man, when Zero doesn't want to be found, he sure is good at hiding. You think he'd be better at sneaking into maverick compounds without attracting attention." Axl frowned as he straightened up and shook his head.

"I rather think he enjoys the chaos he creates when they realize who it is running around their base." Alia shook her head in exasperation.

"Well, this is Zero we're talking about. Chaos seems to follow him around like a puppy." X sighed as he crossed his arms and glanced around. Then blinked. "What is _he_ doing up here?"

"Huh? Who?" Axl looked around before following X's gaze to the reploid in civvies that had just stepped out of the lift.

"Hawke?" Alia asked in confusion as she too turned to see the reploid.

The reploid in question was a humanoid-raptor type reploid with six limbs, two of which were feathered wings. His feet were large and shaped like hawk's feet, complete with talons. Each of his hands was tipped in much smaller talons and a knee-length feathered tail extended downward from the base of his spine. His eyes were amber-gold and the dominating feature of his face was the hooked hawk-like beak. His slacks and button-up shirt had been specially altered to accommodate the large taloned feet, feathered tail, and magnificent black-barred and bronze synthetic feathered wings that extended from his shoulder blades. What skin wasn't covered by the cloth was coated in fine, short, bronze body feathers. He was currently carrying a picnic style basket with a red-and-white checkered blanket folded under the handle, on top of the basket, in his right hand. A red long-stemmed rose was tucked into the basket, the red bud bobbing as he walked. His left hand held a bottle of wine nestled beside two wine glasses in a round ice bucket as he set off across the lobby toward the main doors.

X stepped away from Alia and Axl and headed to intercept Hawke, a frown on his face. "Hawke!"

Hawke jerked in surprise and spun, his wings flaring open in reflexive surprise. His amber eyes went wide when he realized just who was approaching him, trailing Alia and Axl. "C-commander X, sir. W-what are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you the same question Hawke." X frowned up at the taller reploid as he came to a stop in front of him.

"Eh heh... Picnic?" Hawke offered lamely as he lifted the basket in explanation.

X frowned. "You are supposed to be leading the rookie orientation session right now. Not having a picnic. Why are you not there? And why are you in civvies? You're on-duty." X demanded in the no-nonsense tones of his position as a Unit Commander and second in the chain of command for the Hunters.

"Er... Well, you see..." Hawke stammered; he was in it deep. Hawke might have been a Lt. Commander and 2IC of Zero's unit, but X not only outranked him but held a lot of his respect. He might not have been directly under X's command, but when X stepped into his authority, there wasn't a Hunter on base that would refuse his orders.

"Out with it." X frowned. Orientation was scheduled to have barely started 20 minutes ago. If Hawke had skimmed orientation and rushed the rookies through it, then the rest of HQ would be dealing with lost, confused, and, heaven-help-them-all, cocksure, full-of-it rookies who had no idea where or what anything was.

"Sir, yes, sir." Hawke snapped upright, pulling his wings in smartly. "I, er, had a previous engagement for the afternoon. I called in a favor with Tempo, who was off-duty, and asked him to take over the seminar for me today. He's fully qualified to lead the orientation seminar."

"So Tempo is with the rookies." X mulled that over for a moment. Tempo was qualified, but that still didn't excuse Hawke from swapping duties for a date.

"Er, no, sir." Hawke cringed slightly as X snapped his green gaze up to meet his own eyes.

"He's not?" X said levelly, his gaze rooting Hawke to the spot.

Hawke swallowed reflexively. "Tempo had plans as well. So he called in a debt with Commander Zero, because he lost that bet last week."

X blinked as a sinking sensation hit his stomach. "Zero... is leading the rookie orientation seminar."

"Yes sir."

"Oh scrap." Axl put in eloquently from behind X.

"Oh... This is bad." Alia moaned from beside X.

"Sir?" Hawke blinked.

X spun on his heel and bolted for the lift, Axl, a step behind him.

Alia snagged Hawke's wrist before he made good on his abrupt hook-less-ness. "Oh no you don't, Hawke. This is as much your mess as Zero's. You're coming too." And with that, dragged him after her to the lift, catching it just before the doors closed.

"Sir? I don't understand what's wrong." Hawke asked meekly after the doors closed and the four of them headed for the new recruit outfitting level, two floors down.

"You'll see." Axl replied, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Hopefully we'll be in time so he doesn't see." X replied with a frown.

"Sir?" Hawke asked, his confusion growing. Before he got a reply the doors opened and X and Axl bolted out again, heading for the doors down the left hallway that held the orientation seminar room the new recruits were in. Alia dragged Hawke out and after them. X reached the doors and pushed them open and froze on the threshold, Axl stopping beside him and shaking his head.

Alia and Hawke reached them a second later and Hawke could finally see into the lecture hall style room. The hall had a capacity of 250. Currently there were just under 100 rookies arranged in the seats facing the staging area at the front of the room.

Zero stood there in front of a podium talking into a microphone and holding a pointer stick like it was his Z-saber. To his right was a whiteboard he had found from somewhere. It was currently covered in multicolored squiggles and lines with arrows pointing in all directions. Scrawled across the top was messy handwriting that could just barely be made out to say 'Ineffective Fighting Tactics – Big No No'. Various doodles of stick figures covered much of the board. One appeared to be firing wildly around, one hand over its eyes, as other stick figures dove for cover. Another seemed to be standing on a box labeled 'soap' and grandstanding, as evil looking maverick stick figures, complete with horns and devil tails, closed in, carrying pitchforks. Another stick figure was apparently kicking a devil-maverick stick figure in between the legs.

As Hawke blinked at the colorful mess, Zero's words finally registered to his confused processors.

"And so you see. This explains why so many animal-type reploids end up going maverick. Its no wonder mavericks are always so angry and grouchy to everyone else. Unfortunately, they deal with a lot of stress, and since they can't get laid, they find other outlets for all their repressed emotions. Hmm, hard to blame them, really. I'd probably go bonkers too if I couldn't get any." Zero mused, rubbing his chin slightly.

"Anyway. As you can see," Zero pointed to the stick figure kicking the other between the legs, "this sort of battle tactic rarely works with mavericks. You shouldn't expect it to considering most of them don't have any balls."

X groaned and buried his face in his hands as Axl snickered softly.

Alia scowled and elbowed Axl. "It's not funny. I think they're in shock." She gestured to the rookies, sitting in silence, faces pale and twisted, in either confusion or attempting to hold back laughter.

"And this is why we don't let Zero near the rookies unless they're going into his own unit." X sighed heavily before heading into the room to try to get Zero to relinquish his position of supreme authority.

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The End

Owari

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Please review. Babbling and gushing reviews are welcome.

I can hardly believe I tackled the issue of reploid gender. The first part is not as technical as previous ones, but I felt it needed to be addressed in some fashion. Preferably by not going into detailed technical explanations of how it works. I think you can figure that out for yourselves.

Just to give a heads up. I have at least three more chapters planned out at the moment. However, two of them are not humorous. My brain can only come up with so many humorous situations at a time. Its kinda like lightning, in that its random where and when inspiration will strike.

The two non-humorous chapters are actually fairly serious and will be more graphic than the others have been. The rating will go up to PG-13, at least, for one of those chapters due to blood and violence.

I actually didn't intend this to be at all linear, but it's ending up that way, sort of. Think of it as something of a prologue to a story I'm still working the kinks out of the plot for.

Anyway, please review and tell me what you think.

Loved it. Hated it. Wanted to eat it. Wanted to feed it to your dog. Plan to use it as a homework substitute. Whatever.


	4. Power Levels and Recharging

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Rockman X in any way shape or form. X, Zero, and Signas do not belong to me. The other characters in this chapter are made up by me and are non-canon. Reploid anatomical systems and capabilities as well as the recharging capsule design are my own creation. Please you and me to have no stealing.

**Important:**

Rating for this chapter is PG. There are a few mild curses used. Nothing too serious. If you have a problem with the rating, please let me know.

This story is not shonen-ai, regardless of what you might think. If you must take it as such, then do so, but don't get angry with me if you do.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101 **– **Power Levels and Recharging**

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_It just keeps going, and going, and going..._

_Unless it just went a week without sleep and followed it up with a plasma firefight._

In order to function at peak capacity, reploids must maintain stable energy levels. Under ordinary circumstances, the plasma fusion generator is more than capable of maintaining sufficient energy levels to run at peak efficiency. However, during times of system stress, particularly extended periods of high-energy demanding activities, or extended periods of continuous activity without intake of food or entering a sleep cycle, the plasma fuel cells can become depleted faster than they can be automatically restored and power generation capacity will drop or fluctuate. Should power levels drop far enough to pose a danger, the reploid will enter an emergency shutdown mode, in which they lose consciousness and all remaining energy is redirected to maintaining safe temperatures, plasma particle collection, and fusion generator activity. The reploid will remain offline until sufficient plasma fuel levels have been restored to stabilize energy levels. There are several options available to restore sufficient power levels.

The method used most often for low-level energy depletion is also one of the more time consuming methods. Fuel cell recharging occurs continuously at a moderate rate as the plasma particle collectors filter plasma particles from the surrounding atmosphere and store them in the fuel cells. By entering a sleep cycle, lower levels of power are consumed. The motor functions go into a standby phase and power use is reduced significantly. Also, a reploid's higher processor functions enter a lower energy consumption state as the reploid enters a dreaming state. The reploid's energy levels are also focused on the plasma particle collectors during a sleep state. These particle collectors continue to function during the sleep state, gathering and storing plasma particles for use in the fuel cells. When energy depletion is of a low to moderate level, entering a sleep state will typically restore fuel cell capacity and when the reploid exits the sleep state, energy levels will return to normal stable levels.

A somewhat faster method of stabilizing energy levels is to eat. By eating, a reploid increases energy distribution efficiency throughout the combined arterial coolant and aqueous energy transfer system, as well as providing extra fuel for the plasma fusion generator. This method of replenishing fuel cells takes less time than a sleep state cycle; however, the amount of fuel restored through this method is less. On its own, eating is more of a stopgap measure than a complete solution to unstable energy levels.

The fastest and most efficient method of recharging is for the reploid to spend a period of time, usually no greater than one standard sleep cycle, a.k.a. about eight hours, in a recharge capsule. This method is most often used when plasma fuel cell depletion is severe. While within the capsule, the reploid goes into an offline recharge mode, in which higher processor functions shut down. This differs from a standard sleep mode in that the reploid does not enter a dreaming state and will not regain consciousness until released from the capsule, either from an outside source, a power failure to the capsule, or automatically once the pre-programmed recharge cycle is complete. During recharging, the capsule floods with a high plasma particle density field. The reploid's energy is directed toward the plasma collection systems that continuously filter plasma particles out of the surrounding atmosphere and store them in the plasma fuel cells. The increased power to the collectors, and high concentrations of plasma particles inside the capsule, increases efficiency and rate of collection, speeding up the normal fuel recharging process. The capsule monitors the fuel cell capacity, and when fully recharged, or when the pre-programmed period of time has elapsed, will clear the capsule's interior of the plasma particle density field and release the reploid.

Unstable or low power levels can cause malfunctions in multiple systems. Motor and sensory functions are usually the first to be affected by low power levels. This can result in loss of balance and equilibrium as well as slowing of reflexes and loss of motor control. Optical sensors as well as auditory and tactile systems can malfunction under severe power fluctuations, causing visual blackouts, blurriness, loss of sensation, and temporary loss of hearing or auditory hallucinations. Processor function can also be affected, causing faulty logic or memory lapses.

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Commander Rockman X groaned in relief as he flopped forward, facedown onto his bed, without even bothering to remove his armor.

"That can't be comfortable."

"Mmrph." X murbled into his pillow before rolling over onto his back and sending a half-hearted glare at the entirely-too-smug-looking reploid lounging carelessly in his armchair. "It's not, but I don't think I can stand up, let alone take my armor off."

"Now, you see, that's why you shouldn't push yourself so much. I bet you haven't even eaten since this mess started, I _know_ you haven't slept." Zero frowned as he levered himself out of the welcome seat and headed for the mini-fridge in the corner.

"As if I had time to eat, let alone sleep." X moaned as he flung his arm across his eyes and winced as his gauntlet clunked into his helmet and bonked his nose.

"Now, that's where you're wrong, X." Zero pulled out a couple of cans of high-energy drink. "Bleh." Zero made a face. "Don't you have anything that isn't some fizzy fruit flavored drink?" He peered into the fridge.

"You drank them all, Zero." X sighed and let his arm slide off to the mattress under him.

"Hmm. You need to go shopping, man." Zero nodded sagely as he walked over and sat down on the mattress across from X.

"Mmph." X grunted noncommittally.

"Now, as I was saying. Sit up will ya." Zero nudged X's shoulder. X didn't bother moving. "You're wrong about that. You don't have to take everything onto your shoulders all the time, ya know. Even _Commander X, hero of humanity_, needs to take a step back now and then and take some time for yourself. Now, come on, sit up, I'm not pouring this down your throat, you'll probably choke and spit it all over me." Zero set down the cans and gripped X by the shoulders, levering him up to a sitting position and leaning him against his shoulder. "Now," Zero popped open one of the cans and wrapped X's hand around it, "drink up. You won't do anyone any good if you fall over from power depletion."

X grunted, but lifted the can and started drinking.

"I know the past week's been tough for all of us. But you've really been pushing yourself too hard. You can't blame yourself for the hostage situation. Besides, we got them all out didn't we, and our perimeter net made sure none of the mavericks got away. You can't beat yourself up about it. There's no way we could have prevented it, not with what Intel we had. You know that. But still, the whole time, you were blaming yourself. Ah ahh!" Zero cut X off before he had finished opening his mouth. "Don't even start. I know you. Why else would you be off food and sleep until we finished cleaning up?"

"Zero, the 17th was in charge of operations. I had to be there. I'm the commander, they needed me there." X set down his empty can.

"Nuh-uh. Don't give me that." Zero popped the top on the second and pressed it into X's hand. "Drink. There were five other units assigned to the situation, X. Any one of their commanders could have taken over for a few hours for you to get some sleep, or you could have had a sandwich at one of those assault strategy meetings."

"You expect me to be able to sleep, knowing that there were at least 20 humans held hostage at the whim of over 40 mavericks and a host of their battle drones?" X scowled at Zero as he set down the second empty can after draining it.

"No. I expect you to know better than to let your energy levels drop this low. Damnit, I expect you to be able to take care of yourself, X. If I hadn't finished my unit's mission ahead of schedule and gotten there before you confronted their leader, you could have been killed. You're this close to emergency shutdown, X." Zero held up his hand and held his index finger and thumb less than a centimeter apart.

X scowled. "I am not."

"Yes, you are." Zero scowled right back as he reached over and gave a nudge to X's forehead that sent him falling over onto his side to the mattress. X glared at him. Zero smirked back. "It's a good thing Signas ordered our units to take some down-time. I don't think you'd ever take some time off for yourself if someone didn't order you to."

"No."

"No what?" Zero replied looking innocently confused.

"No to whatever it is you're planning."

"I'm hurt! Really, I am. How could you think I would be planning something that would require such an emphatic 'no'?" Zero placed a hand over his chest and looked at X with wounded eyes.

"Because you're Zero, that's why."

"Oh come on, X. I mean, what are you going to do with your vacation time, huh?" Zero huffed as he dropped the innocent act.

"I have some paperwork that's been backing up all week. And then, I'm going to finally finish that book I've been reading." X replied with a scowl from where he lay on his side on the bed.

Zero scowled right back. "Paperwork! A book! Are you mad, man?! This is a vacation! You're supposed to vacate!" Zero threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Absolutely not. Whatever it is... Where ever it is... I am not going."

"But..."

"No buts, Zero. Vacations with you always end badly. I don't know how or why, but they do. I am not risking my health, or my sanity, on another one."

Zero huffed and crossed his arms. "Fine. But you're missing out. I can't believe you'd prefer paperwork and books to going on a vacation with your best bud." Zero pouted.

"Zero," X sighed, "I'll be fine, really. I enjoy reading. Unlike some people." X muttered under his breath, "The point of the down-time is for us to relax. I can do that just fine here. I don't need to be dragged halfway around the world to some resort to relax."

Zero scowled, then spun around to face him. "No paperwork." He leveled his finger between X's eyes. "It's a vacation, so no paperwork. You can do that when you're back on-duty. Promise, no paperwork."

"Zero..." X sighed in exasperation.

"Nuh-nuh-nuh! No paperwork, X. Promise. Or I'll make sure there _is_ no paperwork." Zero leveled his best no-nonsense glare at his best friend.

X sighed. "All right. No paperwork. For the sake of the poor secretarial staff you'd terrorize, no paperwork."

"Promise." Zero insisted.

"I promise, no paperwork. Are you happy now?"

"Yup!" Zero grinned brightly. "Now, time for sleepies, X, my friend." Zero reached over and pulled X back upright before pulling his helmet off and tossing it aside.

"Zero!" X scowled as he ineffectually tried to swat him away.

Zero just grinned and caught his hand before pressing the release for the gauntlet and pulling it off. "Now, now. No need to be cranky." Zero grinned as he started on his other gauntlet.

"Zero!" X growled as he tried to pull his arm away. Then squirmed to try to avoid Zero tugging off his shoulder armor. "Cut that out!" X yelped as Zero grabbed a hold of his chest plate and tugged it off over his head.

"Now, now. Just for that I won't read you a bedtime story, young man." Zero scolded as he dodged X's weak fist and darted around to the other side of the bed to catch his booted foot.

"Young! I'm older than you!" X squawked as Zero tugged off his boot. "Damnit, cut it out!"

"Such language!" Zero scolded. "Just for that I'll tuck you in, but no kiss goodnight." Zero waggled his finger reprovingly at X before snagging his other flailing boot and pressing the release, before tugging it off and spilling a snarling X off the bed.

Zero stepped back and regarded his handiwork. A glaring X was sprawled on the floor, back against the side of the bed. Too low on energy to get up and throttle Zero, though he was mentally doing so. He was wearing only his light blue bodysuit that covered him from neck to wrist to ankle, and his hip armor. His hands and feet were bare and his black hair flopped haphazardly over his face, slightly obscuring his green eyes.

"Well, that'll have to do. I am _not_ fighting you to get that off." Zero waved vaguely to indicate X's remaining armor and the bodysuit. X's glare increased a few threat levels. "Now come on, don't be like that. It's for your own good." Zero walked up to him and crouched to catch X's right arm and pull it over his shoulders. "Now come on, stand up. Time for your recharge." Zero straightened, pulling X upright with him. Without Zero's support, X's legs would have buckled.

"I am _not_ recharging." X growled, tugging ineffectually at his arm. When his feet wouldn't brace, he couldn't get much leverage.

"Oh _yes_ you are." Zero replied, all but carrying X across the room to the recharge capsule every reploid's quarters came equipped with.

"No, I'm _not_. I hate using them. It's like being knocked unconscious." X growled, squirming in Zero's grip.

"Yes, you _are_." Zero replied as he shifted X to hit the release button on the front panel. The capsule hissed open. "You need it, X. Seriously. You're wavering bad. You can't even stand on your own. Sleep just isn't going to cut it." Zero grunted as he levered a squirming X onto the recharge bed.

X growled and then sighed, slumping. "Fine. Get it over with."

"I knew you'd see it my way." Zero grinned. "Don't worry, it's only for 8 hours or so. You'll feel much better in the morning. Count on it."

X sighed. "Night."

Zero ruffled his hair. "Night. See you bright and early." Zero hit the close button and watched as the capsule hatch slid shut, sealing X inside. Zero hit the activation button and the panel screen lit up green as the recharge cycle began. X was oblivious to the world before the capsule chamber flooded with the plasma field.

Zero grinned and rubbed his hands together. "You'll thank me for this later X." Then he clicked on his comm. unit and switched over to the 0th unit's personal frequency. "Come in Hawke."

"Hawke here."

"The goose is in the pot." Zero smirked.

A sigh from across the channel. "Are code words really necessary Zero, sir?"

"Of course!" Zero replied indignantly.

The comm. unit clicked as another joined the frequency. "I can't believe we're doing this. With all due respect, Zero. He's going to kill us." Lt. Commander Mara, 2IC of the 17th sighed.

"Nonsense! X would never do that. It'd take too long to properly break in a new unit." Zero replied with a smile.

Another click. "Yeah, Mara. Commander'll just kill Zero." Dyne's grin was apparent even across the comm. line.

"Would not." Zero replied with a pout. "Now hurry up and get the generator down here."

Click. "Yeah. He'll just maim you, sir." Jax's voice smirked.

Click. "We're outside the door."

Zero hurried across the room to the door and pulled the door open. Outside stood Wolfe, Jynx and Donna of the 0th, and Echo and Radian of the 17th. Carried between them were three suitcases, a toolkit, and a portable generator. "Right, Wolfe, you're with me." Zero said as he took one of the suitcases. "The rest of you, you know what to do." They nodded affirmative before crossing the room to the capsule.

Zero and Wolfe headed to X's closet and proceeded to pull out clothes and other items and toss various pertinent things into the suitcases. The others gathered around the capsule and proceeded to splice into the power cables that led from it to the HQ power grid port in the wall.

"Jeez," said Jynx as she worked to connect the portable generator to the capsule without cutting off the power, "I can't believe Commander X actually trusts you enough to let you in here, Zero."

"What! Oh I'm hurt."

"_I_ wouldn't trust you in my quarters." Donna snorted as she powered up the generator. "And you're my commanding officer. I'm amazed he's still alive and kicking."

"Hey! I'd never intentionally do anything to hurt him! He knows that!" Zero pouted.

"It's the unintentional part that worries me." Echo replied levelly.

"Hey!" Zero protested as he lugged one of the full suitcases over to the foot of the bed. "X is my best friend, he knows I've got his back when he needs it. Besides, this is for his own good. Paperwork! Books! Bah!"

"His own good huh?" Radian frowned. "Well, I agree with Jynx. I'm amazed he still trusts you."

"Of course he trusts me! Who else would he trust to guard his back when things go to hell in a hand basket? Same way I trust him." Zero scowled back.

"So what are we? Chopped tofu?" Donna frowned at her commander.

"Of course not! But I wouldn't trust the 0th on your own to make sure X comes back in one piece. You nutcases would probably run off and get drunk and throw a party, leaving poor X to fight off an entire army of mavericks and their bosses all by his lonesome." Zero replied airily as he waved his hand vaguely about.

Wolfe snorted.

"Yeah, we love you too, Commander." Jynx replied dryly, her eyes glinting with laughter as her mouth quirked at the corners.

"Of course you do!" Zero replied grandly with a grin and a wink. "So we all set?" He glanced around.

"Ready." Radian replied as he stood up. "Generator's hooked up and running, capsule's disconnected from the wall. All that's left is to carry it."

"Right-o." Zero thumbed his communicator. "The train is ready to leave the station. Are the tracks clear?" Zero ignored the groans of exasperation from around the room.

Click. "Halls are clear to lift shaft 29. Hurry it up." Hawke's voice came over the line.

Click. "Teleporter room's clear, but I don't know for how long." Mara's voice chimed in.

"Right. Let's get this show on the road! Before we go, did everyone remember to use the bathroom?" Zero scooped up two suitcases as Echo grabbed the third and the toolkit.

"Why?" Wolfe asked, blinking in confusion as he griped one end of the capsule.

"Because we're not making any pit-stops." Zero replied matter-of-factly as the others gathered around the capsule and, lifting together, picked it up, generator and all. Zero leading the way, they trooped out of the room, Echo closing the door behind them.

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The End

Owari

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MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!

I managed to have Zero strip X, render him unconscious, and kidnap him! And its still PG! And believe it or not, its not shonen-ai either!

Mwuahahha! I can do ANYTHING!!

X: o.O Please review so she'll stop acting crazy.

Zero: Yeah, she even scares me when she gets like this. Plus, next chapter follows chronologically right after this one.

X: Please, please review. At least then she'll continue and I'll find out what happens to me next. I hate vacations with Zero. Best to get it over with quickly.


	5. Equilibrium and Balance Centers

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Rockman X/Megaman X in any way. The characters of X and Zero do not belong to me. All of the non-canon characters in this story are my own creations. The reploid anatomy design is my own creation. Please don't steal.

**Important:**

The rating for this chapter is PG. There are a few mild curse words used, but nothing major. There is a fighting scene, but no blood or serious injuries occur.

This is not intended as shonen-ai or yaoi. You may take it as such if you want. However, don't get angry with me if you think it is.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Equilibrium and Balance Centers**

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_Gravity is a Harsh Mistress!_

..._Ow ow ow._

Another instance of balance and equilibrium failure occurs when a reploid's internal equilibrium sensors, usually located in the head unit, are off balance or out of alignment. This can occur for several reasons. If the reploid has experienced a series of rapid directional changes at a speed great enough that his processors cannot keep up with the momentum, direction, and equilibrium alterations, his internal equilibrium systems will become misaligned as they attempt to compensate. Also, should the equilibrium sensors become damaged due to injury, they can malfunction. Both instances will result in dizziness and disorientation. A head injury sufficient enough to damage the equilibrium sensors will often result in a concussion-like state.

Should the reploid suffer damage to the equilibrium sensors that causes them to register an imbalance in weight distribution that will result in damage to the reploid should the reploid fall over, the system attempts to correct the weight distribution. A purge of all unnecessary weight occurs in order to minimize potential damage from a fall. This includes purging any substances contained in the synthetic digestive system at the time. The result is that after a head injury, resulting in severe dizziness and concussion-like symptoms, a reploid is likely to throw up any contents of its stomach.

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The silence of the room was broken by a soft hiss as the reploid recharging capsule set against the wall released its seals and the doors slid open. Inside laid a slender male form in a blue bodysuit, his black hair ruffled haphazardly into his closed eyes as his chest rose and fell rhythmically.

The world came back to Rockman X in a sudden burst of processor activity as power was channeled to his higher processor functions to bring him out of recharge shutdown mode. As his green eyes blinked open, a sigh escaped his lips. X hated using the recharger, even if it was necessary.

For a moment, he just lay there, staring up at the ceiling but not making out more than a blur of color. Then, with a huff of breath, X levered himself up to a sitting position and ran his hand through his unkempt hair. As he shifted his weight and started climbing out of the capsule, he tried to ignore the irritating tingling sensation all across his synthflesh as the tactile sensors recalibrated themselves as they came back online. It was like this every time after a stint inside a recharge capsule.

A complete blackout, not even dreams, which X often enjoyed during normal sleep cycles. Followed by the annoying reactivation and recalibration of all of his sensory systems. It always took some time for his optics, audio, tactile, scent, and taste systems to realign themselves to proper functioning levels. Until they finished recalibrating, X was going to be rather out of it. His hearing was fuzzy, his vision blurry, his nose itched, his mouth felt full of fuzz, and his skin tingled all over. X groaned as he set his bare feet on the carpeted floor and straightened up. 'Well, at least my fuel cells are back at full capacity and my energy levels have returned to optimal.' X grumbled mentally as he shuffled across the room toward where he knew the door to his bathroom waited.

Usually, an abrupt shock to his tactile systems would bring the calibrations around quickly and stop that annoying tingling. A face full of cold water was in order. Followed by a hot shower.

X's train of thought was abruptly derailed as his shins and knees slammed into something sturdy and padded and X went sprawling to the carpet, face-first.

"Ow ow ow ow ow." X moaned into the plush pile of the carpet, whose color he couldn't distinguish at the moment. Blinking to try to speed up his focus, X turned to regard his attacker.

Large, semi-squarish, padded, a curve here, a depression there. 'Right, the chair. But wasn't it over there?' X thought in confusion as it felt like his skin attempted to crawl laps around his body.

"Damnit Zero." X grunted, levering himself up. He'd probably thought it would be hilarious to rearrange X's furniture before he left the night before. "You and your stupid pranks." X grumbled as he activated his proximity sensors to warn him of any more incoming furniture. 'Hrm. I don't remember my room dimensions being this big. Maybe I need to recalibrate the proximity sensors too. That's never happened before though...'

X sighed. "Shower first. Then I'll be able to deal with Zero." He started off towards his bathroom door again, shuffling across the carpeted room.

X reached the spot his sensors told him there was a door, he was pretty sure it was his bathroom door, it was in the right place, after all, even if it wasn't the right color. 'He had better not have repainted my rooms.' X growled mentally, picturing himself happily throttling Zero.

X reached out and pulled the door open. The first thing that registered to him was, 'bright, white.'

'Damnit he did repaint, at least its not hot pink. No, don't think about it. Shower. Shower first.' X stepped forward through the doorway, but his leading foot stepped into something soft and yielding and X yelped and pitched forward as he lost his balance and landed face down in a lot more soft yielding stuff.

'What the hell?' Was the first coherent thought in X's mind at that point.

That was closely followed by, 'white.'

Then, 'soft.'

And then X focused his sensors on the strange stuff he had just fallen into and took a look at what it might be.

_99_ _percent H2O.  
1 percent_ _various trace particulate elements.__  
Crystalline molecular structure._

X blinked, still face down. 'Snow?? In my bathroom???'

And then the cold registered to his skin as the tactile recalibrations completed themselves. His systems began to register the beginnings of damage that translated to pain in his extremities and face as the below freezing temperatures began to frost over the outer layers of synthflesh and interfere with the tactile sensors buried under the skin. X bolted upright out of the snowdrift he had been lying face down in for the past three minutes, sending powdered snow flinging off of his back and arms to settle on the ground and in his hair.

"YEEAAAARRRGGGG!!!!!!!!"

Two floors below him, in the ski lodge common rooms, mugs of hot cocoa clattered and spilled as nearly 20 vacationing Maverick Hunters, bundled up in stylish scarves, mittens, ski jackets, ski pants, boots, and caps; as well as nearly 30 additional assorted vacationing humans and civilian reploids, jerked and jumped in surprise and apprehension.

Mara winced as she picked her mug back up from the ground and set it on the table in front of her seat on a couch. "This does not bode well..."

"Don't worry Mara," Meridian soothed. "I'm sure the commander isn't as upset as he sounds." She added nervously as she turned her head to peer up the staircase. "I hope."

"Now, now, ladies. No need to worry." Jax soothed as he hopped over the back of the couch they were sitting on to perch on the padded back. "Zero made sure to be prepared for grumpy-morning X."

"He did, did he?" Mara frowned skeptically as she turned to regard the reploid in question. Zero was currently occupied with three pretty young snow bunnies across the room by the hearth in an overstuffed chair. A reploid redhead, and two blonde human twins. One on each armrest and the third curled up in his lap. Zero grinned and flirted as though he was some sort of demented, longhaired, girl-crazy Santa. Mara sighed in exasperation.

"Well," Angel put in hesitantly as she rustled her wings in a shrug, "at least Commander Zero is an equal opportunity womanizer..."

"Yeah," Tempo sighed wistfully. "How do you suppose he does it? I bet it's the hair. It's gotta be the hair." Tempo tugged morosely at his own short, green hued locks.

"Moron." Vixen shoved him off the edge of the table and dropped into the space next to Angel, her fluffy tail-tip twitching in aggravation.

"Hey!" Tempo yelped as he picked himself up off the floor.

"Anyway, back to what I was saying." Jax interrupted before it could escalate into a fight. "Zero made sure X wouldn't be too grumpy this morning. Left him a nice hot breakfast, his favorite too. We even rented his ski gear already and laid out some clothes. We had to borrow Todd for his boot size, though; he's the same as X. And Zero sprung for the lift ticket. Everything's taken care of."

"You got that right. All X has to do is relax and enjoy himself. Don't worry, he'll be fine." Zero grinned as he walked up behind them, his long blond hair swinging across the back of his red and white ski jacket as his gold scarf hung behind him like an extension of his hair. Upon hearing X's wake up call, he had disentangled himself from the snow bunnies and headed over for the closest congregation of the 0th and 17th units.

"I don't know..." Hawke frowned as he turned from the windows to the left of the group. "Are you sure his favorite breakfast is blueberry waffles? I've never seen him eat them before, and he is usually in the cafeteria at the same time I am in the mornings."

"Of course I'm sure." Zero frowned. "They just never make waffles with fruit in the mess hall. You'll see. He'll thank us for such a nice breakfast." Zero nodded, a grin on his face.

"ZEEEEEEROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Another bellow reverberated throughout the lodge. More mugs clattered as people jumped.

"Ah. And that, ladies and gents, is my cue." Zero smiled proudly, bowed graciously to the ladies on the couch and spun away, marching for the stairs.

"600 zenny says X at least punches him, if not more. 1000 says one or both of them will be bruised or injured by the end of the day." Tempo grinned, looking around hopefully for anyone willing to take the bet.

"No way." Mara stated flatly.

"Nuh-uh man." Jax shook his head. "Those are practically sure things. Either they'll get into a fight, or it'll be the result of the bet you made last night with Zero. No way I'm handing over 1600 _more_ zenny to you."

Mara pulled a portable comm. device out of her pocket and started dialing a number.

"Who you calling?" Hawke asked, pointing to the hand-held device.

"Resort Management. They'll need to know who to bill for any damages. So, guys," Mara turned to regard everyone from the 0th and 17th that were in earshot, "Who's it gonna be? Headquarters? X? Or Zero?"

The response was unanimous. "Zero."

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Zero smiled to himself as he hopped up the old-fashioned-style synthetic wood staircase, taking the steps two at a time. He certainly had to hand it to himself. Things were working out brilliantly. Of course, X would be a little miffed, that was understandable. But it was nothing Zero couldn't handle. In fact, he was counting on it.

Now, X was a self-proclaimed pacifist. He disliked fighting, and absolutely hated killing. He was always willing to find another way besides fighting and killing. Which was all well and good when there wasn't a war or a maverick threat going on. However, despite what X claimed, deep down, he was a protector at heart. He defended others, those who couldn't defend themselves. Be it with words, or his buster. And he was damn good at it too. When push came to shove, and other lives were on the line, X pushed back. And X could push a lot harder than just about anyone else. X knew this, and that was a good part of why it took so much for him to start pushing back.

X didn't like hurting others. He'd stand up for others; he did it all the time. But when it came time to stand up for himself, against just about anything less than life-threatening circumstances, X lost his backbone. It wasn't that X didn't get angry or upset at others; it was that he didn't show it very often. Now, in Zero's expert opinion, bottling up all that irritation and annoyance and just plain old-fashioned anger couldn't possibly be healthy for his best friend. So, he had set out with a mission. See to it that X had an outlet for all that repressed frustration. Zero had long since made it his own personal mission to make sure to irritate X whenever possible so that his best friend could blow off some steam without hurting anyone else. Getting to poke and tease and irritate X until he finally lost his cool was an added bonus.

Zero was one of the very few people who could get X to lose his calm, smiling demeanor. Most of the others tended to be mavericks that were putting other innocent lives in danger. The only thing that could really set X off was having others put in danger. Zero thought that the mavericks providing an outlet for X was a good thing. Not even he could stand toe-to-toe with X when he really cut loose. He could come close, but he knew X could probably kick his chassis from here to the moon if he really wanted to. However, disregarding when X really got angry, when it came to releasing some of that pent up tension from everyday incidents that X didn't respond to, Zero was fully capable of taking whatever frustrated anger X decided to vent on him.

X never really set out to seriously hurt Zero, of course. Not even in the worst temper losses he had had in the past. They both knew what the other could handle, and Zero was capable of handling a lot more than anyone else X might have taken his frustration out on. Zero would also drag X off to sparring sessions whenever he could. All the better for X to vent some tension and for Zero to get the itch to start a fight out of his system after a period of maverick inactivity. And currently, X needed to vent some tension. He may not realize he needed to, but Zero knew.

Zero was worried about his best friend, and he wasn't the only one. The past week had wound X up tighter than a spring. Between blaming himself for not preventing the hostage situation, and the situation itself, X had been driving himself ceaselessly all week. Nothing frustrated X worse than having others in danger and being unable to protect them. It's why he couldn't stay retired. He'd try his best to solve things without violence, but when all else failed, and there was still a threat to others, X would strap on his armor and head out to face it.

The first part of the past week, X had been trying to find a way to get the mavericks to release the hostages. Even though the likelihood of the mavericks agreeing to such a thing was all but nonexistent, X had had to at least try. When that failed, he had worked feverishly to plan a way to get past the defenses the mavericks had set up while still reaching the hostages quickly enough to prevent the mavericks from executing them. And the whole time, the fact that simply busting in there, and rushing to free the hostages, would result in most of them being killed before even the fastest reploid could reach them, was eating at X. He had wanted nothing more than to rescue the hostages as soon as possible. Instead he had had to sit out there, unable to act, despite all his vaunted power, without endangering the hostages himself.

The frustration and self-recrimination had driven X to avoid eating and sleeping until the situation had been resolved and the hostages were freed. That was not at all a healthy attitude to have. Even his unit had noticed how on edge X had been all week. It had to be bad for X to be on the edge of losing his temper that noticeably. So the 17th's squad leaders had discussed it and had decided to approach Zero about it.

The 0th had just finished their own mission ahead of schedule, so Zero was able to head over to the hostage situation to make sure X was ok after Mara's call had come through. Which was a good thing, considering they were in the middle of the diversion assault on the mavericks while X had infiltrated the base on his own to free the hostages. Zero had tracked down Todd, who was the 17th's lead strategist and learned just how badly X had been taking care of himself the past week. Todd hadn't even been able to finish his worried explanation before Zero had taken off after X.

Zero found X just in time to see him confront the maverick's leader, who had been lording it over the hostages. The maverick had started pummeling X into the ground when it became apparent he was having trouble fighting back. X didn't have enough energy reserves left to use anything but the standard buster settings and even that was pushing it. The maverick boss didn't find it nearly so funny once Zero's saber was buried hilt deep in its head. Luckily, Zero had arrived in time before X took any serious damage to anything other than his pride. They'd gotten the hostages out safely, but X was still wound up with thwarted frustration over having been too low on energy to effectively protect and rescue the hostages. It hadn't helped that he'd been ready to fall over from energy depletion at the slightest touch by the end of the day.

Zero had already decided that X needed to unwind, and he was going to make sure he did. Even if it meant kidnapping him to get him to take a real vacation and relax away from the everyday stress of HQ. Besides, doing something like that was guaranteed to get X to vent some of his tension. Zero was going to make certain that X was doing okay, even if it meant he'd end up somewhat maimed in the process.

Arriving at the door to the room he had booked for X, Zero didn't even pause to knock. Pushing the synthetic wood door open, Zero strode in with a bright grin on his face. "Good morning, X! You bellowed?" Zero stepped inside the spacious old-fashioned style room and glanced around for his little buddy. Zero blinked. X was nowhere in sight. "Hmm." Zero walked forward into the carpeted room, passing the table and chairs set up with a covered breakfast, a couple armchairs, and passing the recharge capsule to nudge the bathroom door, next to the bed, the rest of the way open. "X?" No X. With a frown, Zero headed around the bed and approached the door to the balcony that overlooked the panoramic mountainside the lodge was settled up against.

Even before he reached the doors, he could see that X was not on the balcony, but he continued toward the doors to make certain. Just before he reached them, he heard the door shut behind him.

"Zeroooo..."

That sudden chill that heralds the coming of very bad things abruptly made its way down Zero's spine. Zero stiffened. "Heh heh. X... So... How did you sleep?" Zero slowly turned around to face his ticked off little buddy.

For such a short guy, X sure could project an aura of mayhem when he wanted to. X stood in between Zero and the door, still in just his light blue bodysuit and hip armor. His black hair was liberally dusted with white powdered snow and his green eyes were narrowed and locked onto Zero. His fists clenched and unclenched reflexively at his sides as he leveled a high-level death glare at his grinning blonde kidnapper. X growled.

"Not so good huh? Did you enjoy breakfast?" Zero smiled and indicated the covered dish. "It's your favorite." Zero wheedled in a singsong voice, still grinning.

X growled louder.

"Hmm, guess it got cold. Well, not to worry! Your best buddy Zero will take care of everything. You just leave everything to me and concentrate on relaxing." Zero grinned broadly as X began advancing across the room towards him.

"You..." X hissed. "You... Capsule..." X's eyebrow started twitching madly. "Kidnapped..." his fingers hooked into claws as he flexed them. "Room... You... Snow!" he snarled.

"Now, now, X. No need to be hasty here..." Zero chuckled nervously and held up his hands as he backed up a few steps toward the large glass windows that overlooked the balcony.

"Snow!" X cried. "Snow... Bathroom!! Shower!!!" X wailed, throwing his hands around wildly toward the balcony door.

Zero turned to look. "Now, X, I know recharging always throws your systems off kilter for a few, but that's not a bathroom. It's the balcony." He nodded and smiled brightly as though he had just presented the secret of the universe to X.

"RAAAARRRRRGGGGG!!!!" X launched himself over the back of the armchair that separated him from Zero. Kicking off the back and spilling the chair over backwards with a thump, X leaped for Zero, fist extended to deck him.

"GAH!" Zero yelped as X slammed into him and they both went over backwards to the floor with a massive thump. X's hands closed over his throat as he shook Zero frantically, clunking the back of his head repeatedly into the floor. Zero gripped X's wrists and twisted them apart before pulling his knee up to his stomach and kicking X off and across the room, into the wall.

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Down below in the lodge common room. Mugs clattered and people jumped as one of the window-lined stone and synthetic wood walls shuddered and some dust drifted down from the ceiling.

"Pay up." Tempo grinned as he held out his hand to Snake.

Snake grimaced and started digging into his pockets before pulling out a slim plastic zenny card. "All I've got on me right now is 250. I have to visit a terminal to get the rest."

"No worries. I can wait." Tempo grinned as he accepted the card.

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X rebounded off the wall as Zero climbed back to his feet. Tackling Zero around the waist, X sent them both tumbling into the bed frame with another crash. Twisting around and out from under X, Zero evaded his hands and caught X in a partial headlock, pulling his arm around behind him. X twisted and reared back with his head, smashing into Zero's shoulder so his grip loosened. A second later, Zero lost his grip completely and was pitched forward as X bent his leg backwards, knee bent, and kicked Zero in the back of the head.

Zero twisted as he fell and rolled clear of the bed, rolling up against the balcony windows, before getting to his knees. X tackled him again with a roar and they tumbled backwards, crashing through the window and rolling out into the snow on the balcony.

Powdered snow flew up in plumes as they thrashed across the balcony, X alternating between getting in a few good punches and strangling Zero some more. Zero dodging punches and prying X's hands from his throat as he worked to pin his furious friend.

Zero twisted out from under X again and ducked away from a punch to put some distance between them. He was suddenly brought up short as X grabbed a hold of the end of his long ponytail and jerked him over backwards with a shriek. Zero rolled away from X's knee, which would have connected with his stomach when X came down from his jump onto Zero. X launched himself from his kneeling position to tackle Zero around the knees and pitch the both of them forward into the synthetic wood railing. Which promptly gave out with a splintering crash and sent them tumbling two stories to the ground.

"GAAAAAAAH!!!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

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Yet another crash from above sent most people edging away from the wall closest to the disturbance. The members of the 17th and 0th unit squad leaders were not most people. They had gathered near the windows, around the couch Mara, Angel, and Meridian were sitting on, while Hawke stood near the windows that overlooked the mountainside.

Two screams abruptly resounded throughout the lodge. Eyes turned toward the windows just in time to see two intertwined, screaming figures drop out of the sky and crash into the snow bank that had piled up the night before, outside the windows.

"What the hell?" Tag blinked from where he stood behind the couch.

The snow bank was busy being blown and thrashed apart as the two figures continued to thrash around, grappling and punching. Plumes of white snow were tossed up into the air in all directions and splattered against the window. Every now and then, they could catch a glimpse of red ski jacket and blonde hair or light blue clad limbs flailing about.

Mara sighed as she stood up. "Well, I don't detect any weapons-fire. So that's something."

"Hawke flared his wings slightly, ruffling all his feathers up. "Come on guys. Let's go make sure they're both still in once piece." Leading the way, he headed down the window-lined wall to the sliding glass doors that lead out onto the synthetic wood patio that was just down the outer wall of the lodge from where X and Zero had fallen into the snow. Nearly everyone else in the lodge was edging away from the side of the lodge that the two were fighting on. As the last of the 17th and 0th units headed out the door, the three girls that had been flirting with Zero hesitated before following them out onto the patio and heading to the railing that overlooked the fight.

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As Zero tried to put some distance between them again, his foot slipped on the snowy slush that was starting to surround them, and fell face down. X tackled him from behind, just as Zero flipped over, and straddled his waist, pinning him. Zero choked as X wrapped his hands around his throat and proceeded to throttle him and repeatedly thump his head into the snow.

Both X and Zero were fully capable of bringing multi-ton force to bear with their hands and feet. X could have easily crushed Zero's throat and the wires, vocal synthesizer, metal spinal column, and the various tubes for circulation and respiration that ran through his neck. He didn't, of course. He had never intended to. Neither of them were bringing their full power to bear in this tussle. But it was infinitely satisfying to watch Zero gag and wheeze when X applied enough pressure to close off the respiration tube, which lead to his lungs. Of course, they'd both have pressure damage bruises on their synthflesh when this was over, and some damaged tactile sensors, and maybe a few minor dents, but it was nothing their auto-repair systems couldn't handle before the day was out.

It took a moment of teeth bared in a silent snarl as he strangled Zero, before X noticed that Zero was grinning despite being out of breath and having his head shaken around and throat painfully squeezed. X paused in his shaking, blinking down at Zero in confusion.

"Heh... Feel," wheeze "better?"

"WHAT!" X squawked as he stared down at the lunatic in the snow. "Do I _feel better_?!! Are you _INSANE_!!? You... You... You _kidnapped me_!!!" X hissed as he slammed Zero's head into the snow again, for good measure. "You dragged me off to the middle of who-knows-where! With _SNOW_!! And the bathroom! With the... and the... SNOW, ZERO, _SNOW_!!! And no _shower_!! Wake up... no shower, but _snow_!! And the kidnapping!! And _do I feel better_?!!"

"But, you like snow." Zero wheezed around X's clamped hands.

"Not when I want a hot shower!!" X cried as he shook Zero's head vigorously.

"W-we were worried about you, X." Zero gasped out.

X froze at that. "We?" X blinked and eased up on his death grip on Zero's throat as he suddenly realized there was no way Zero could have snuck off with him and the capsule without help of some kind. Though Zero could probably have carried the ungainly thing, there was no way he could have gotten it out of HQ unnoticed; it was just too bulky for one person to sneak around with.

"Heh, yeah. Your guys're worried about you, X. So am I." Zero winced as he reached up and rubbed at his bruised neck.

"You dragged my unit along with this!" X snarled gripping Zero's throat again.

"Heh. How do you think I knew you hadn't been eating or sleeping. Mara told me. And technically, they came to me first." Zero wheezed as X's grip tightened.

"What!?" X gasped, dropping his grip on Zero's throat and sitting slightly back on his heels, still perched over Zero's waist.

"They're all worried about ya, X. You were headed to put yourself in a bad situation and they wanted to help you out. So they called me." Zero sat up slightly and waved to the side where both of their units' squad leaders were lining the raised patio railing overlooking them.

X followed his gesture and paled when he saw everyone. "T-they saw..." he whispered in shocked and horrified embarrassment. X was always careful to never lose his temper in front of others, especially those he had command over. He knew from experience that an angry X could be not only unnerving but downright scary depending on the situation. He did not want to lead by fear or make his people nervous around him. The last thing he wanted was for people to be afraid of him.

Zero abruptly caught X's right hand with his own and pulled hard, flipping X. Zero rolled out from under, him as X fell down onto his back where Zero had just been. Zero then pinned X in the same fashion X had held him down. He pinned X's wrists above his head.

"Come on, X. We're worried about you. You seriously needed to vent before you snapped on somebody. It's about time you decided to let yourself unwind." Zero leaned over him and urged in a low voice.

"But... They..." X moaned in a small worried voice.

"Oh please. No one but an idiot or a maverick would be afraid of you. You're way too nice for your own good most of the time. Hell, you're the nicest guy I know. They are _not_ going to freak just because you let off some steam. Come on, X. For once, just relax and don't worry about what anyone else thinks."

X sighed and slumped back into the snow.

"So how do you feel?" Zero asked with a grin.

"Cold." X grumped back. Zero just grinned.

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As the brawl wound down, the members of the 17th and 0th units relaxed. Looked like they wouldn't have to pry their commanders apart. Just as Mara was debating going down there to drag X back to his room so he could put on some proper cold-weather clothes, one of the girls that Zero had been flirting with spoke up in a worried voice.

"Sh-shouldn't you help Zane? He's fighting a dangerous maverick all by himself." Every single member of the 17th and 0th turned to stare at her.

There was an abrupt squawk from X, "What!?" as he sat up so fast he nearly threw Zero off, and stared at the blond girl who had spoken in shock.

Even Zero had to stare at the girl for a second before shrugging and saying nonchalantly to X, under his breath, "Case in point for the idiot issue."

"A maverick?? X-" Jax was abruptly cut off as Jynx elbowed him hard in the side, and as soon as Mara caught the girl's attention, dragged him away from the girl and behind Wolfe.

"Xavier is about as far from being a maverick as you can get." Mara picked up from where Jax had left off.

Jynx whacked Jax over the head with her ski goggles. "Idiot! Whatever happened to incognito," she hissed, hidden from the girl's view. "_Xavier_ does not need screaming fangirls when he's trying to relax."

"Yeah. He's just a little high strung." Dyne nodded, picking up the explanation after Mara.

Zero's shout cut off any further discussion. "Never fear ladies! I am a trained professional!" Zero grinned confidently and waved at them from where he straddled X's waist.

"_Professional_!" X cried. "Professional _what_!?" X twisted and snagged Zero's arm, tugging him off and to the ground as X rolled over and pinned him again. Zero was laughing as X pinned him. X had to fight the grin tugging at his own mouth.

"Oh please! You have to help him!" the second blonde girl cried, tugging at Hawke's feathered arm insistently. Hawke glanced out at the snowdrift and the two best friends who looked about to either strangle each other or fall over in laughter.

Hawke shrugged, "You heard the lady, people! They need our help!" He jumped away and up onto the railing, lifting his fist above his head as he spread his wings. "For Zane!"

Mara laughed, and shouted, "For Xavier!" before leaping over the railing into the snow piled up beside the patio. A cheer ran up from both units as they joined in the charge.

"Huh?" X looked up as Zero twisted onto his side to look back at the patio and their units. Just in time to be almost completely buried in a hail of snowballs.

Half an hour later, a laughing X and Zero staggered back into the lodge, followed by their units. The entire group was shedding snow across the floor as they went. Zero dragged the thoroughly soaked and cold X up the stairs, still laughing, so that he could go change into some new clothes and get that shower he had wanted.

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X looked dubiously down the slope laid out before him. "Zero, this is _not_ the bunny slope."

"X, you are not a bunny. We don't need to use those slopes." Zero assured him as he nudged himself up with his poles to X's side to regard the ski run.

"But I don't know how to ski! And neither do you!" X complained with a scowl. "We never would have even made it up here if we didn't have the peanut gallery along for the ride." X gestured dramatically at the rest of the 17th and 0th units tromping through the snow on their own skis.

"Oh come on, X. How bad could it be? Humans throw themselves down these slopes all the time!" Zero gestured to the slope below them.

X scowled. "Did you _not notice_ that GPS places this as the 'Red Devil's Suicide Run' on the ski slope map? Who the hell comes up with these names anyway? I can guarantee that the humans who use this slope know how to ski." X gestured at the various rocks, short drop-offs, and numerous pine trees heading down the stretch of this part of the mountain.

"See you at the bottom!" Tag laughed as he shot past them on his skis and over the lip of the slope.

"Not if I get there first!" Dyne followed close behind him with a spray of snow.

X just watched as they headed down the slope, taking the drop-offs and avoiding rocks and trees expertly.

"You see! No problem. This'll be fun, you'll see, X." Zero grinned brightly.

"Er... But, they know how to ski. Are you sure you want to do this guys?" Mara asked worriedly, peering over the edge of the slope.

"Er..." X started, but was cut off by Zero.

"Of course!" Zero flashed a confident smile at the rest of the gathered reploids. "A little something like a mountain can't stop us! No way we're backing out of this bet."

"Wha... b-bet?" X turned to face Zero and followed his gaze to a sheepishly grinning Tempo who shrugged.

"Right X?" Zero clapped his hand against the middle of X's back. X skidded forward on his skis from the unexpected push and wobbled, the front of his skis hanging over the edge.

"Z-Zeroo!" X wailed as he flailed his arms back to try to avoid pitching over the edge. Dropping all attempts at dignity as his skis slid forward further, X dropped his ski poles and latched his hand onto the only solid object in reach. Zero.

"W-whaa!" Zero yelped as he was suddenly jerked forward as X caught his arm. Zero teetered for an instant and then fell forward into X. The both of them tumbled over the edge of the slope in a flail of arms, legs, and skis.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!"

"Ahh!" Mara cried as she hurried up to the edge and looked over with dread. "Oh this is soo not good," she moaned as the others gathered alongside her.

X and Zero were picking up speed as they careened down the slope. A small avalanche of snow accompanied them as they rolled and flailed and dropped over hidden drop-offs and bounced off of rocks. One or both of them had lost skis at some point. Lost skis and discarded poles were littered here and there down the slope. Their tumble was accompanied by yelps, shouts, and an occasional scream.

Angel turned to Tempo with an uncharacteristic glare on her face. "How could you! They could really get hurt!"

Tempo winced and cringed away from the glares of the others. "I-I never said _this_ run. Zero chose it. All I said was that he take one of the advanced slopes. I mean come on! This is X and Zero we're talking about. I didn't know they were both barely able to stay upright on skis."

"Idiot." Echo scowled, her pale ice-blue eyes looking colder than usual.

"Come on, let's go make sure they don't kill each other once they stop rolling." Hawke sighed as he spread his wings and leaped into the air to follow at a more convenient, for him, pace. The others headed down-slope as best as they could, without ending up in a repeat of X and Zero's performance.

Halfway down the slope, Tag and Dyne skidded to a stop and looked back up-slope to figure out what all the commotion was about.

"Oh scrap! Lookout!" Dyne yelped as he shot ahead, hoping to outrace his commanding officer, who was somewhere in the tangle of snow and limbs and blonde hair that was careening downhill and picking up speed.

Tag wasn't so quick, he had barely started to push off when the tangle of reploid and snow crashed into him and dragged him down with them. Dyne didn't fare much better though. It only took an instant for X, Zero and Tag to overtake Dyne and roll over him and pick him up in the mess. With a high-pitched shriek, Dyne was sucked under and into the cascade of snow as his ski poles flew off to either side. With every bounce and roll, various colorful curses and shouts of shock and pain drifted up to the others racing downhill after them.

The few reploids in the units capable of flight were already at the base of the slope and uncertain of how to stop their tumbling commanders without getting dragged into the mess themselves. It wasn't more than a moment later that the ball of snow and reploids finally came to a stop partially up the mountain. The tangle of reploids slammed into a slanted rock that sent them arcing into the air with four mingled screams of panic. When they impacted with the slope they landed in a drift at the edge of the run and their trip down the mountain came to a halt.

X staggered unsteadily to his feet, rising out of the dent in the snow he had made upon impact. Everything was spinning lazily and wobbling up and down. His internal systems were screaming at him that gravity had just gone on a fluctuation spree, the North Pole had magnetically swapped with the South Pole, and he was actually standing at a 74 degree angle to the ground.

"Ooohhh..." X staggered sideways and tripped, crashing into Zero who was just dragging himself upright and holding his head in both hands. The two went down in a tangle of limbs and blonde hair that vanished into the snowdrift.

"Oh... Oh god... Oh..." Dyne staggered up, his right hand clapped to his temple. Red reploid blood oozed down from a split in his synthflesh just below his hairline over his right eye. "Ooooh..." Dyne collapsed to his knees in the snow and caught himself with his hands; bent over he started retching.

Tag laid face up, still clenching one ski pole in his right hand, in a Tag-shaped impression in the snow, a few feet away from where Zero was unsteadily pushing himself up to his knees. X, still seeing things in swirly-vision, was lying on his side in the snow next to Zero.

As Hawke, Angel, and Meridian raced up to them, Tag slowly sat upright and glanced around. Spotting the others still racing down the slope towards them, Tag turned around and struggled to focus on the other three that had rolled downhill. Spotting Zero next to him, Tag lifted himself up to his feet and staggered over to his commanding officer. "Zero..."

Zero looked blearily up at him, blinking rapidly as things spun and twisted to his optics and sensors. "Huh?"

"With all due respect..." Tag lifted his ski pole and swung it down across the top of Zero's head. Zero yelped and toppled forward as he lost his balance, sprawling across the top of X who groaned in protest. "Stop taking Tempo's stupid bets!!!!!"

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The End

Owari

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Well, there we have it.

Hope you liked my exploration of X's character from Zero's point of view. You'll get an analysis of Zero's character from X's point of view next chapter.

Wow this chapter is 16 pages, that's as long as next chapter is.

Just to give a head's up, but not all of my chapters are going to be humor. Next one is not going to be very humorous. I hope you'll still read it though.

Please tell me how I'm doing. What do you think of the characterizations? Did you enjoy X getting back at Zero for kidnapping him? Did you like the reason I give for Zero being so irritating to X all the time?

How am I doing with the original characters? Good? Bad? Hate em? Want more of em?

Please review.


	6. Life, Death, and Resurrection

**Disclaimer:**

I do not now nor ever will own Rockman X/Megaman X or any of its characters. I also don't own 'Robin Hood' or 'Weekend at Bernie's.' Reploid anatomy design and theories of life and death and why some die and some come back are my own. Please don't steal.

If you ask nicely, I may let you borrow.

**Important:**

This chapter is rated PG because apparently 'Weekend at Bernie's' was PG and that had a dead body in it. You wanna know what the heck I'm talking about? Well, then, read the fic. There are also a few mild curse words used.

Also, this is **not** shonen-ai or yaoi. I swear its not. Think, best friends, close enough to be brothers, I'd-take-a-bullet-for-you kind of concern. Not romantic or sexual concern here, people. Just because two guys care about each other does not mean they want to jump each other's bones.

If you really, really want to, you can take it as shonen-ai. But don't flame me for writing shonen-ai when its not intended that way.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Life, Death, and Resurrection**

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_Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil._

..._Why the hell won't they stay dead, but she can't come back..._

A reploid is a sentient, self-aware, true A.I. robot that experiences emotions and is fully capable of making its own decisions without relying on preprogrammed responses and algorithms. The most important parts of a reploid, that which makes it who and what it is, are the control chips, the personality matrix, and the memory matrix.

The control chips are necessary for any reploid to function. These are the circuits that contain the necessary programming to monitor, maintain, and coordinate all the systems in the reploid's mechanical body without causing problems or conflicts between systems. The control chips also contain the basic A.I. programming that allows the reploid to develop as an individual sentient being.

The true genius behind the individuality of a reploid lies in its interconnected personality and memory matrixes. Before activation, basic knowledge of language, mathematics and other basic concepts are installed in the basic root of the memory matrix. Immediately after activation, the reploid's personality and memory matrix are unformed and malleable. From that point on, everything the reploid learns or experiences is added to their memory matrix while their personality matrix develops. The crystalline personality matrix is self-writing and self-adjusting. Every experience the reploid gains adds new layers and connections of their personality into the matrix. The crystalline memory matrix is continuously added onto and updated, every memory made being interconnected and wrapped in the layers of personality that the memories are connected to.

Just as no two humans think exactly alike; no two reploids' personality and memory matrixes are identical. Each personality matrix is unique, just as human DNA is unique to each human. This is where the concept of reploid DNA souls came from. The energy patterns that make up the thought processes of a reploid are uniquely specific to each reploid. Scanning equipment can detect these energy patterns and use them to positively identify a specific reploid from every other reploid in existence.

A reploid is a machine. Why then, is it possible for a reploid to 'die'? Aside from complete destruction, broken machine parts can be replaced and a machine reactivated. What makes such part replacements only possible in certain cases for reploids?

It is invariably acknowledged that reploids can take, and deal, a lot more punishment to their bodies than a human ever could. Loss of limbs is not an unfixable situation for a reploid. The determining factors in whether or not a reploid will survive an injury are power supply and the condition of their 'brain,' which consists of the control chips, and memory and personality matrixes.

Large explosions from external sources are usually fatal to a reploid due to massive destruction to the body and systems, often resulting in a breach in the plasma fusion generator that results in complete destruction due to a secondary internal explosion. Breaches in the generator itself can cause the plasma fusion reaction to destabilize and result in a plasma-based explosion that will completely vaporize the reploid's body from the inside out. While the generator is shielded to prevent such breaches, during a battle or severe accident, the shielding can be ruptured if sufficient force is brought to bear.

The personality and memory matrixes are delicate systems. Any damage that occurs to the matrixes can result in a condition similar to human brain damage. This can alter personality and memory and if severe enough, can cause the reploid to be completely different from what he or she was before the injury. Such damage is rarely repairable. The interconnections and mental thought pathways between and within the memory and personality matrixes are so delicate and layered that any attempt to manually repair the matrixes would almost certainly cause further damage. Also, any change to the connective pathways can cause personality changes or memory loss.

Why then, can't the memory and personality matrixes be copied as backups, to ensure a reploid will be able to be restored despite such grievous mental damage? Any previous attempts to copy the memory and personality matrixes of a reploid onto blank template, backup matrixes has ended in failure. Such a copy is done all at once. Without the time for the matrix to adjust and stabilize each pathway as it is created, the matrix becomes unstable and prone to complete cascade collapse. Also, because the matrixes are continuously updating themselves with new information and experiences, any backup copy would be outdated within less than a day.

Sometimes, despite lack of damage to the 'brain' or complete destruction of the fusion generator or body, a reploid will still 'die.' Such a death occurs when damage is sufficient enough to cut off power from the fusion generator, or fully shut down the fusion generator. Once activated to bring the reploid online for the first time, the plasma fusion generator never shuts off. While mild to moderate damage to the generator, such as minor plasma leaks or small breaches in the shielding, can be repaired if medical repair help is reached in time, severe damage usually results in the generator overloading or overheating and resulting in an explosion.

Usually a generator explosion occurs quickly, within moments of the damage being inflicted, without providing sufficient opportunity for an emergency shutdown. On the few occasions when damage to the generator is sufficient enough to cause failure, but does not occur swiftly enough to cause an explosion before the generator can shut down, the reploid then has a chance to be saved.

If a reploid whose fusion generator has shut down is gotten to medical attention quickly enough, their generator can be repaired and reactivated, assuming there is enough remaining of it to be repaired. A full generator replacement would result in 'death' for the reploid. Aside from the 'brain' the generator is one of the only systems that cannot be completely replaced. The reason for this is because when a fusion generator is replaced, the reploid's power grid must not retain a residual energy charge. This is necessary to avoid an explosive power surge in the new generator that can cause a lethal generator overload in the reploid being operated on that will cause an explosion that could also kill any medical personnel working on the reploid.

When a reploid loses all residual power in their main power grid, the reploid is 'dead' and unsalvageable. It can take up to three weeks for the residual energy charge in a reploid's systems to fade, however it can occur earlier or later depending on the reploid in question. During this 'grace period' the reploid can be reactivated and saved. Reactivation of the power generator after the residual charge has fully bled out of the systems is automatic death for a reploid.

The personality and memory matrixes are extremely delicate systems. Any unregulated power surge through the matrixes would completely wipe the reploid's personality and memory. Normally there are buffer systems active to protect the matrixes from power surges. However, these buffer systems require energy to run and regulate the power flows entering the matrixes. While a residual energy charge remains in the main power grid, the buffers remain active. The buffers are one of the last systems to shut down after power failure. Once all residual energy has bled out of the reploid's systems, the buffers shut down. Reactivating the plasma fusion generator, or a replacement generator, would cause a power surge throughout the reploid's entire system as the suddenly restored energy flow rushed into the power grid. With the buffers deactivated, the power surge would cause a complete wipe of the reploid's personality and memory. It would be as though they had just been built and activated for the first time.

Regardless of how closely the reploid's friends and companions try to replicate and jog the memory of the experiences the afflicted reploid lived in the past, they would never be able to restore his personality and memory matrixes back to what they had been before the incident. The reploid's personality and memory matrixes would rebuild themselves in a completely new and unique configuration that would result in a different person wearing their old friend's body.

Because of this disturbing discovery the first time such damaged reploids were reactivated, it was decided that reactivation of 'dead' reploids would be prohibited. It was just too disturbing and morbid to put a new person in someone else's body and hope the people the reploid knew and cared about in the previous incarnation didn't run into him in his new existence. Often, in those first cases, the blanked reploids would rebuild their personality and memory matrixes in a faulty, haphazard manner due to the provided experiences and memories given to them by those who knew them before the incident and were hoping to bring their friend back. This sudden influx of past knowledge and memories often caused mental instability in the new matrixes which led to the reploids either going mad, destroying themselves, or complete cascade collapse of their matrixes. Once a reploid has fully lost any residual charge to their systems, they are 'dead' and resurrection of 'dead' reploids is illegal and immoral.

How, then, was Zero able to return to life after he was killed in the first Maverick War against Sigma? Zero was dismantled, and some six months later, was put back together and reactivated. Why did Zero not suffer from the personality wipe that 'dead' reploids suffered when reactivated. The answer to that is because when his body was taken from the rubble after the first defeat of the Maverick Sigma, the mavericks that stole him, the X-Hunters, intended to reactivate him and use him for their own purposes. They also intended him to be used as bait against X to keep him busy and off balance. To ensure Zero's parts would be an enticing enough prize, they maintained the residual power flow through each independent part, ensuring that the 'grace period' extended far beyond its normal limits. They were unable to reactivate Zero themselves because they lacked his main control chips that maintained and monitored all his body's systems at safe levels. Without those chips, Zero's systems could have malfunctioned and broken down without proper regulation and maintenance.

Mavericks do not suffer from the restrictions against resurrecting their dead. Once infected, the virus causes many of the buffers to break down and induces a painful, controlled, low-level power surge in the personality matrix. This wipes out most of the connections between the personality matrix and the memory matrix. The reploid's original personality is either fully wiped or a partial wipe occurs that isolates the remaining personality from control of the body. While this causes some damage to the memory matrix as well, most memories remain intact and available for the maverick virus to access. The virus then has control of the reploid's body. A death from power failure, or a damaged and shutdown generator, does not affect the virus itself. Reactivation only serves to wipe the matrixes again, which were already partially blanked. The virus prevents reconstruction and addition to the personality matrix and runs the decision-making processes itself. The loss of memories from a reactivation wipe causes the maverick to forget whatever weapons skills and fighting experience the reploid had had before being infected. This explains why repeated resurrection of mavericks results in less experienced and effective fighters.

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X had known it was coming. He always did. But knowing it was coming and having it happen are entirely separate things. No matter how much he knew it was coming, it still never prepared him for the gut twisting worry and the helplessness that came along with it. Heck, everyone at HQ who wasn't completely blind, or brand new, knew it was coming. Not many knew why, but they all knew it would happen.

X rather preferred the speculative rumors about _why_ it happened, rather than the truth. The rumors were just that, rumors. They could never hurt as much as the truth did. But X would never correct them. Zero didn't need his personal matters splattered all over the HQ rumor mill. No one who knew the truth would do that to him.

X had hoped to head it off this year before it had a chance to get started. Or at least make a dent in it. Yet, once again, Zero had eluded him. Damn, but that blonde haired lunatic could be sneaky when he wanted to be.

Every year, around this time, Zero would simply vanish. Sometimes for only a few hours at a time, sometimes he'd be gone all day. No one knew where he went or what he was doing. He never talked about it. But X suspected.

Zero was a complicated guy. X knew this. Everyone who _really_ knew Zero knew this. Everyone else took him at mainly face value. The crazy, womanizing, long-haired, adrenaline junkie; sometimes hero of the planet; S-class Special Elite Maverick Hunter, often short tempered, Commander of the Special Elite 0th Unit; he who jumps to conclusions, holds grudges, kicks Maverick ass, and causes insanity and chaos wherever he goes; best friend and battle partner of the famous Commander Rockman X, hero of humanity. Zero was very good at misdirection.

Despite all of the flirtations, the attention from pretty ladies, fangirls throwing themselves at him, Zero had never really gotten over her. As far as X knew, and considering he's Zero's best friend that's pretty far, Zero had never fallen in love with another. Sure, there were the constant flirtations with anything attractive and female, the nights out on dates, and X was sure there had been sex since, it had been many years, after all. But none of that was ever anything serious, not like she had been to him. The women were always one-night stands, and they knew it beforehand, and didn't mind either. If they minded, then they became no-night stands. Zero didn't lie to them about that and he wouldn't get their hopes up. He may be egotistical and overblown and embellish his accomplishments and escapades, but when it came down to something important, Zero didn't lie about it.

X sighed. He wished he had gotten to Zero's quarters earlier. If he had, he might have been able to head him off before he vanished this year. X just knew he was off somewhere, holed up, being miserable and blaming himself. He had no actual physical proof, but he knew. He just wished Zero would let him try to help. Zero's his best friend damnit! He hated knowing he was off somewhere, alone, being miserable and X couldn't do anything to help him.

X had concocted a plan this year. He had no idea if it would help, but he was willing to try just about anything, if it could help Zero. Granted, it wasn't much of a plan. There was only so much X could work out on his own. He had no intention of involving anyone else when Zero was like this. And his plan had involved getting Zero alone to talk things over with him, hopefully, assuming he would talk.

X had been putting off his routine check on the Restricted Armory level, waiting for this day before heading down to check his specialized armor inventory and clear out the dust of another year. Normally, the annual check consisted of opening each of the capsules and taking out the armor and making sure all the pieces were in working condition and nice and shiny; and making sure none of the R&D techies had managed to sneak in and try to take some of them apart for study. X was quite sure they'd happily maim and kill (depending on who they were killing) for the opportunity to pick the armor apart and study it. They pestered Signas to order X to give them access, as well as X himself, every year for such a chance. It was also his time to reminisce on his creator and the ultimate creator of all reploids, Dr. Thomas Light. The armors and the holographic messages that had come with them were practically the only legacy his creator had left him.

Ever since X had been assigned the Restricted Armory level for his own use, back when it became apparent that there was no way to keep the armors safe from the curious and the techies in his quarters, not to mention the problem of storage space, Zero had accompanied him down on the annual checkup. Part of it was that Zero kept X from getting depressed over his creator's only legacy to him being armor and weapons of mass destruction. The rest of it was that Zero loved lording it over the techies that he got to go play with X's armors every year and they couldn't even touch.

Admittedly, Zero did like playing with X's armors. Occasionally, X would regret giving Zero an invite access pass code for his Restricted Armory on Armory level 17. Last Halloween, there was a massive joint unit Hunter Halloween Costume Party thrown that encompassed two levels of the living quarters area. Zero had arrived a half hour late, by himself. Dressed as Falcon Armored X. _In the actual Falcon Armor._

What made it worse was that he had played the part of X all night. Answering whenever someone called for X, and thoroughly embarrassing X himself, who had been dragged along by Axl and Alia. The three of them had dressed, at Alia's insistence, as characters from one of X's books, Robin Hood. Alia had arranged the costumes and handed them out. So X had found himself as Robin of Locksley Hood, an outlaw, of all things. Alia had chosen Maid Marian, and had saddled Axl with Will Scarlet. It wasn't as bad as X had feared; everyone else was in costume as well, but having Zero come, and act, as X, had been incredibly embarrassing. Not to mention the fact that the armor was a size or two too small for Zero, considering he was taller than X. This resulted in Zero complaining to X every chance he got about how the armor chafed, or pinched, or squeezed, and how could X stand it.

Things only got worse near the end of the party when Zero accidentally activated the flight thrusters and sent himself through a wall. None of Zero's upgrades had ever included actual flight systems. Only the helmet and the inertial repulsion field generator saved Zero from knocking himself senseless or worse. Normally, X didn't use the inertial repulsion field generator to knock down walls; though it did a very good job of it; nearly as good a job as it did taking out maverick drones that he rammed into during flight. However, Signas was not pleased and, once Zero's head had cleared enough to understand, had ordered Zero to go put the armor away before he accidentally killed himself or someone else. X went along to make sure Zero didn't choose a new Halloween costume from Armory level 17.

While X was capable of using his internal teleportation system to summon or dismiss the armor to and from the pre-programmed storage capsule coordinates, Zero had not anticipated the difficulty in getting in or out of the armor and had not bothered to calibrate his internal teleportation system. Which meant they had to get it off manually. It had taken an entire hour to get Zero out of the armor, the blonde Hunter complaining and yelping the entire time as X tugged and pulled at the too-small armor pieces before they finally got them off.

The only consolation X had to offer the thoroughly irritated and chafed Zero at the end of the night, was that it had not been the Ultimate Armor that Zero had chosen to use as a costume. Even for X, who it fit, getting the Ultimate Armor off manually was practically impossible without help. He had found that out after returning to base from the mission he had acquired the armor on. Whenever X found a new suit of armor, he would have to manually remove it the first time, in order to place it into an empty storage capsule on Armory level 17 and program his teleportation system to assign the specific capsule coordinates for the new armor. He had had to drag Zero down to the armory to help him get out of the suit. Getting _Zero_ out of the Ultimate Armor would have been a task to phase even the most determined of reploids.

X had decided that the best and easiest way to get Zero alone for a talk, while catching his interest enough that he wouldn't disappear this year, would be to catch him before he vanished and take him down to the Restricted Armory to mess around with X's armors for most of the day. No one would bother them because no one else but Signas had access, and he never went down there. Plus, getting to stick his tongue out and go 'nyah' to the techies was sure to lift Zero's spirits.

The only hitch was that X had gotten waylaid on the way to Zero's quarters by an entirely too-cheerful-for-that-early-in-the-morning messenger who proceeded to drag him halfway across HQ to an 'urgent situation that needed you right away.' Only to discover, upon arriving at their destination, that some mid-level paper-pusher had gotten into a shouting and paper-throwing match with three of the 17th's newest transfer rookies who were demanding better quarters and live weapons to train with. X entered that scene of chaos just in time to hear himself used as a 'close personal friend' by the apparent leader of the disturbance, who was threatening to take this matter directly to X.

X was only too happy to oblige.

Now, though, he wished he had been a bit more vengeful, rather than just getting them transferred to the a clean-up crew unit, which never sees live action and comes in after everything has happened to clean up the mess the fight left behind; as well as putting them on HQ janitorial and garbage duties for the next three months. If they stayed in the Hunters after today, X would be surprised, and a bit disappointed. However, the thought of them cleaning out garbage receptacles was little consolation when X finally arrived at Zero's quarters to find them already empty, and Zero vanished.

Since then, X had been scouring HQ for Zero, with no sign of his best friend. Just like always, no one had seen him, no one knew where he had gone, and no one knew what he was doing. X had just about given up on this year. As had been his experience in the many previous instances, Zero wouldn't show up until he'd finished whatever he vanished to do. X had never been able to find him. He would just have to save his plan for next year. It was almost enough to make X cry. Or hunt down those rookies and drag them off to a frustration-venting 'training session' straight out of Zero's training manual.

X sighed as he arrived at his destination. There was no help for it. He'd have to do the Restricted Armory check on his own. The techies were already breathing down his neck for the status reports he was supposed to draw up on the armors and let them claw through. Not like he expected there to be any sort of change from last year's status reports, or the year before's. But the techies were convinced that if they just got enough of the stupid reports, they'd find out the secret to the armors' creation and be able to duplicate it, or convince Signas to let them take them apart for study. Whichever came first.

X stepped forward into the Maverick Hunter Head Quarter's Main Armory Wing. As always, the place was full of activity as Hunters and rookies came and went to the multiple lifts along the wall by the Armory Inventory desks. Reploids and humans hustled about, clanking as they carried armor pieces in and out of the lifts and down the corridor aisles where various sets of unclaimed standard armor and practice weapons waited on racks and shelves. This was Level 1, the lowest security level, where the rookies were brought to get outfitted for training.

Until they had proven that they knew which end of the buster or saber to point at the maverick, rookies were kept on practice weapons. Currently, there were no new batches of rookies being outfitted. The ordered chaos of the armory was generated due to it being nearly lunchtime. Multiple units were coming in from training sessions or getting off patrol duty and heading for either one of the mess halls, or off-grounds to eat out.

Every duty shift, various units were drilling and training in the training facilities assigned to each unit. Others were assigned on patrols or to investigate and/or deal with assorted reports and demands for Hunter assistance. When on-duty or training, Hunters were required to wear their armor. When off-duty, nearly everyone opted to go without armor, and wear civvies instead. Only officers, or those who joined with their own custom armor, assuming that it passed muster for defensive capabilities, were permitted to keep their armor in their quarters. Everyone else was required to check their armor in at their personal storage capsule locker, in their unit's section, on levels 4 through 6. Rookies' armor was kept on levels 1 through 3, along with unclaimed sets and spare parts.

Although it seemed as though security was lax, there were actually effective protocols in place. The main armory doors would not open when approached by unauthorized civilians who happened to be unescorted by active duty Hunters. No one could take gear out of the armory without signing for it at the desk and having the armor or weapon's energy signature cleared for passage through the doors. Trying to take something out of the armory without getting it cleared first, resulted in the alarms being triggered and the doors sealing shut until the alarm was deactivated by a member of the command staff. The only times these security measures were overridden were during a mass scramble of forces to deal with a massive maverick attack. At that point, it was more important that everyone be armed, armored, and on the way to deal with the situation than to make sure spare armor parts stayed in the armory. During a mass scramble, the door protocol sensors were switched to the Scramble Protocols, where everything leaving the armory was catalogued, along with the ones doing the taking, and stored in the main computer banks for later examination.

Each of the lifts inside the armory only went to Armory levels. Each one would go to only the designated levels for that particular lift. The low security levels had lifts separate from the mid-level security lifts and the high security level lifts. The lifts for the high security restricted levels 13 through 25 only went to those levels. The lift for level 17 only went to level 17. The lifts for R&D only went to the R&D levels 21 through 25. Each high security lift required an identification pass code for it to even open, and another for it to move, and a third for it to open at its destination; differing codes for each level. Each pass code was accompanied by a sensor scan, a vocal, and a retinal verification that corresponded to the codes used. Every reploid had a unique energy signature, and every human's DNA was unique.

X crossed the front of the room, avoiding rushing reploids and humans as they worked to get their gear stored as soon as possible so they could go eat. He picked up his pace as he noticed a gaggle of R&D techies homing in on his location from across the lift and checkout zone. Ducking around a particularly large, Asian dragon style, quadrupedal, animal-type reploid, who was just coming out of a large lift for levels 18 through 20, the custom and experimental armor and weapons levels, X lost the techies in the bustle and made it un-accosted to the only level 17 lift. Laying his hand on the code panel, X transmitted the pass code in a direct burst transmission on his personal frequency, to open the lift doors. There was a soft hum as the scanning sensors built into the lift doors ran through the verification process. There was a soft chime as the first two lights on the panel activated green. "Commander Rockman X, Elite 17th Unit." The third green light activated, and with a pressurized hiss of air, the lift doors slid open. X stepped inside as the doors shut behind him. While vocal verification could be imitated by voice synthesizers, a vocal verification from the reploid fitting the correct scan profile could be told apart from a vocal verification coming from a reploid accompanying an unconscious reploid that fit the correct scan profile.

X turned to the interior code panel for the lift and repeated the process, providing a different code this time. The lift activated a second later and rushed downward to its destination. X repeated the process a third time after the lift came to a stop. Another code and the blast-shielded lift doors opened onto a round room that the lift shaft dropped down into the center of. Another blast-shielded door stood closed against the outer wall behind the back of the lift shaft pillar. X had to walk around the outside of the lift shaft to bring it into view. While everyone above rookie knew about the triple-coded high-level security Armory lifts, only the three people who had access to level 17 knew about the fourth code sequence required to get through the doors to the actual armor storage chamber.

There were also multiple transporter scrambler fields activated in the armory to prevent reploids from teleporting in and out unnoticed. One between each level, and another covered the entire Armory. Not to mention the ones active over the entire MHHQ compound. As far as X knew, he was the only one who had the pass codes for the entire scrambler field network in the Armory. He was the only one who had need to randomly teleport gear directly in and out of the high-level security armory levels.

After supplying the final pass code and verification process, the massive doors hissed open and slid to the sides. X walked into the spacious chamber whose walls rose across from him, nearly three times his height, to the ceiling and stretched away to either side before meeting the corners and making right angles to vanish out of sight behind the rounded curve of the wall at his back. This particular chamber was shaped like a donut with squared off outsides. The inner wall was the outside of the inner rounded chamber that the lift shaft dropped into.

About 30 feet out from the inner wall, the row of storage capsules began. Each one was separated by about 6 feet from the ones to either side of it. Each was approximately 12 feet long, 4 wide, and 3 tall as they rested parallel to the floor. They marched on in a fanned out line from one end of the curved room to the other, and vanished behind the curve of the inner wall only to reappear at the other side. They were meant to store not just armor, but almost anything. When this level had been outfitted, it had originally been storage for high security, top-secret, experimental weapons and armor. The level had been cleared out later, and given over to X's armor storage. Although there were over 50 storage capsules down here, none had been removed because no one was really sure just how many armors Dr. Light had left for X to find. For all anyone knew, there could be enough of them out there to eventually fill all these capsules.

X headed around the curve of the inner wall to his right. As an added deterrent to snoopy techies or anyone else, X kept his armors around the curve of the chamber, out of direct sight of the doors. Anyone who managed to get in here, and didn't know precisely what was kept on this level, would likely assume it was unused storage from a quick glance around. Though all the capsules were powered and running, all of the ones in direct sight were empty. The capsules had scanner scattering fields built in that prevented invasive scans from penetrating to the supposedly top-secret contents they had been designed to hold. Because the main computer security and power systems couldn't scan the contents of the capsules, they were programmed to assume they were full and so had all of the capsules' seals and systems activated at all times.

The capsules with X's earliest armor upgrades were to the left side of the doors, around and behind the curve of wall, halfway to the back half of the room. His armors were held in chronological order in the following capsules, also heading left. By heading right, he was taking the long way around the room and would reach his latest armor first. X normally checked on the armor in chronological order, oldest first. But today, X didn't mind taking the longer walk or going backwards. It was something to do to take up time so that he wouldn't have to deal with the rumors flying around about Zero's disappearance. And so that he had more time to get a grip on, and deal with, the miserable, helpless feeling that coiled in his gut at the fact that he hadn't been able to help Zero this year, again.

Which was why X was shocked into a moment of frozen speechlessness as he rounded the next length of wall and discovered the mysterious location of the disappearing blonde hunter. This discovery did several things at once. It lifted a huge burden of worry off of X's shoulders. It suddenly made his plan plausible; Zero was already here. And then it dumped all that worry right back onto his shoulders, but for an entirely different reason.

Like X, Zero was wearing civilian clothes. Black slacks, black shoes, and a white shirt under an open fronted, long-sleeved, black, button-up shirt. His long blonde hair was loose; he rarely wore it loose outside of his quarters. He stood with his back to X, standing beside one of the storage capsules and looking down into it through the solid energy particle field that served as a glass-like, but much stronger, cover to each of the capsules. He was leaning up against it, his left arm thrown across the top of the capsule as his hair obscured his face from clear view. He was holding a long-stemmed red rose in his left hand, resting it on the surface of the capsule.

It wasn't Zero's appearance or stance that made the worry and concern twisting inside X roar up to an almost sick feeling of dread, and knowing, and fear. It was the contents of the capsule. X had never really bothered looking inside capsules he knew to be empty. He should probably start doing so more often. Lying inside the capsule was Iris. Well, her body, at least. She lay on her back, facing up towards the ceiling, eyes shut as though she was merely sleeping. Only the absolutely perfect motionlessness, and the certain knowledge that her plasma fusion generator and main power grid would never work again, indicated otherwise.

"Zero?" X spoke before his mind could come to terms with all the possible implications of this scene.

"X..." Zero turned slightly to face more towards the inner wall and lifted his head slightly. His hair fell away from his face, revealing his profile.

"Zero... what..." X hesitantly stepped towards his best friend, hand lifting as though to reach out to him, before X even realized what he was doing.

"Did you know that humans bury their dead?" Zero turned back to gaze once more into the capsule. "Or sometimes its cremation and they keep the ashes in a little pot. Humans have some funny customs, ya know." Zero lifted his head, staring off into space with a small sardonic smile on his lips. He turned back to Iris's face and his left hand gently stroked across the top of the capsule, brushing the petals of the rose that lay on top as it passed. "They visit the graves of their dead loved ones. They bring flowers and some of them even talk to the graves, like the dead can still hear them and might talk back. Silly really. Dunno why they do it." Zero murmured softly, his smile turning pained as his voice thickened.

"Z-Zero..."

"Reploids don't do that, X." Zero whispered, his voice hollow and turning to bitter. "We're machines, you know. Deep down, under it all. We don't bury our dead, or talk to them, or bring them flowers. Machines don't do that, you know. We're not _allowed_ to keep the bodies of the dead." His right hand clenched into a fist as his side. "Waste of resources. Why would a machine ever need to visit a grave or remember those they love who have died?" Zero's voice trembled, on the verge of breaking.

"Oh... Zero... That's not..." X stepped forward quickly, reaching for his shoulder.

"Yes it is, X." Zero spun to face him, stopping X in his tracks when his blue eyes met green. Pain and anger clashing with despairing grief in rich blue. "At least, that's the way the big-wig politicians have it." Zero dropped his gaze from X's pained and compassionate green, turning back to gaze at Iris again. "I... I couldn't do it X. I just couldn't. Not her. I couldn't let them take her away." Zero whispered as he closed his eyes, tears spilling over the edge.

"Zero... I know. I know." X murmured, stepping closer, up beside his friend.

"W-what if I don't remember her one day?" Zero turned his grief and fear filled eyes to X as he turned to face him. "What if I forget? Her smile. Her laughter. The way she'd look at me and nothing else mattered but that one moment." He pleaded in his urgent desperation.

"Zero, you won't forget her. How could you? You still love her, you always will." X soothed as he met the blue eyes that verged on panic.

"I forgot my own beginnings, X." Zero scowled and dropped his eyes to the floor before lifting them to meet X's again. "My first clear memories are of Sigma activating me here in HQ. And I _know_ ole reflecto-dome didn't build me. I... I don't want to forget her, X." Zero whispered brokenly, dropping his gaze again as an involuntary shudder ran through his body, wrapping his arms tight around his waist.

"You won't Zero. I know you won't." X reached out and gripped his shoulders in either hand. Zero lifted his gaze to meet X's again, tears still tracking down his cheeks. "Maybe... maybe there wasn't anything in your beginning worth remembering. But, Iris... She's worth remembering. You won't forget her Zero. Even if your memories might falter... you... Zero... your heart will always remember her." X urged as Zero's arms loosened and dropped.

"I can't let her go, X." Zero whispered, shaking his head slightly and making his blonde hair swing back and forth. "I just can't, not yet, maybe not ever."

"Zero..."

"X, what do you suppose happens to reploid bodies?" Zero pulled slightly away and lifted his eyes to meet X's challengingly. "They get dismantled, for parts and materials. But that's just for a dead reploid. What do you suppose happens to dead mavericks? Or what about someone who openly allies with a group the Global UN Council has legally declared maverick? I'll tell you what. They get melted down for scrap, that's what. I couldn't let that happen to her, I just couldn't." Zero turned back to the capsule and ran his hand down the clear surface again. "She deserves better than that. She's always deserved better..."

"Zero, I saw the scan reports from when we were on the station, Iris wasn't maverick; most of Repliforce wasn't either."

"Heh, that didn't make much of a difference to the G. UN." Zero's smile was bitter and twisted. "Like they'd admit they screwed up that badly and ordered the slaughter of a bunch of pain-in-the-ass reploids that were only fighting for better reploid rights. Besides, with Repliforce out of the picture, they wouldn't have to listen to demands for better equality from a bunch of 'dumb machines'. Besides, you think I'd stand around and let her get dismantled for spare parts?" Zero spun to face X again. "Not a chance! Not any more than you'd stand around and do nothing if they came to take Alia's body away for spare parts."

"W-what?" X backed up a step. "Alia's not..."

"You heard me." Zero said softly then frowned as X opened his mouth to speak. "Nuh-uh! Don't even start, X." Zero shook his head, blonde hair rippling. "You bawled like your heart had been ripped out and stomped on when I first 'died', and we'd barely known each other for two years. And _I'm_ not the pretty, sweet, intelligent lady you keep making eyes at when you think no one's looking." Zero poked X in the chest with his finger.

"I do not!" X cried, turning a brilliant shade of red across his cheeks.

"Of course you do, everyone knows but you and Alia." Zero sighed. "You should stop dancing around it and just go for it, X. Even if it doesn't work out, which I can't imagine happening with you two; you won't regret it." Zero turned away, back to the capsule as his voice grew melancholy and soft. "Being with the girl you love is worth it, for however long it lasts, regardless of all else, it's worth it. Don't make the same mistake I did, X. Don't let her slip away from you." Zero stroked his hand down the side of the capsule again as silent tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Zero..." X stepped up beside his best friend and gently laid a hand on his shoulder as Zero bent forward against the capsule's curve.

"You won't tell, will you, X?" Zero whispered in a tiny hesitant voice.

"Zero..."

"They think she was on the Repliforce station when it blew. I told them I left her there." Zero stroked the capsule absently as he gazed at its contents. "You won't tell, will you, X? I never meant... I just couldn't..." His voice faltered brokenly as he bowed his head over the capsule, a blonde curtain obscuring his face from view.

"Oh, Zero..." X sighed softly, closing his eyes and leaning his shorter frame up against Zero's side as his left hand lay splayed against Zero's right shoulder blade. "Why here, Zero? Why right under everyone's noses?"

"No one but you and me ever come down here." Zero murmured softly as X opened his eyes. "Only you and Signas have the clearance for this level. Not even those drooling techies are allowed down here. Signas never comes down here." He lifted his head to meet X's bright green eyes. "It's your stuff, X. Belongs to you and no one else. I just come along to help you lug the stuff around. There're plenty of empty storage capsules down here." Zero lifted his left hand slightly and waved vaguely around, gazing aimlessly around the room. "No one knows how many armors ole Light made for you, or how many you'll end up with if someone ever figures out how to duplicate what he did. The sensor grid doesn't look inside the capsules, can't really scan your stuff properly anyway; just that the capsules are all here and powered." He turned his eyes back to meet X's, bright with tears and clouded with grief. "Only you or I would notice that there was an extra full one. I figured you'd notice sooner or later. Thought it would be sooner actually..." His weak smile was strained.

"Zero..."

"I never meant to drag you into this, X." Zero shook his head, turning back to face the capsule and laying his hands against its surface. "There was just nowhere else. I didn't want you to get in trouble if anyone found out. I had hoped... But then... I just couldn't, X. I-I just couldn't." His voice broke as he leaned forward over the capsule's field and cried silently, his shoulders shaking under X's hand.

"Shhh. It's all right." X soothed, leaning up against Zero's side and gently rubbing his shaking shoulder. "It's all right, Zero. I won't tell. Shh. I wouldn't tell, Zero. I wouldn't even have to."

"Huh?" Zero raised his head in confusion, his blonde hair sticking damply to the tears still running down his face. "B-but... I don't want you to get in trouble, X. It's my mess. I-I don't want you taking responsibility for it." Zero urgently stammered out as he met X's eyes again.

"Shh. It's all right. Signas gave me leave a long time ago to store any of my stuff I wanted to, down here with my armor. The perks of being a world hero, you know, extra storage space." X smiled slightly, his lips tugging up at the corners sardonically. "I don't think he quite meant this, but he gave no restrictions." X reached out and laid a hand gently on the smooth surface of the capsule. He turned back to Zero and smiled sadly, his own green eyes over-bright with unshed tears. "She was my friend too, you know. I suppose that counts as being 'my stuff'." X leaned forward and rested his forehead against Zero's with a soft thump, closing his eyes as tears traced slender tracks down to his chin. "As long as you want, Zero... As long as you need to."

"Thanks." Zero whispered softly.

"Always." X smiled.

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The End

Owari

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**Note:**

- The inertial repulsion field generator – This is what I decided to call the invincible flight mode of the Falcon Armor from the game X-5. My theory is that it makes X invincible because it generates an energy field around him that repulses anything that comes in contact with the field at a rate exponential to its inertia when contact is made. The faster X is going when he hits something, the more repulsion the struck object is given. This also stands for when something hits him. If enough force is between the object and X, it will be blasted away from X. The more inertia the object had built up when striking him, the greater the force delivered. This means that if there is enough inertial force between X and the object, it will literally be blown apart as its thrown away from X. This makes X invincible.

Please review.

Man, this made me so sad, and I was the one writing it. I don't know if it's just me or not though. This is my first attempt at angsty sadness. Tell me how I did.

Well, this explains what Zero did with Iris's body at the end of X-4, my theory at least. I know there're a lot of people out there who don't like Iris. But I think she gets a bum rap all the time. Felt I should give her a little love.

Does anyone know the official names for the armor upgrades X received in X-1 and X-2? The X-1 armor had the Hadouken attack and the X-2 armor had the Dragon Punch. He also got upgrades in X-3 unless you hold out for the Gold Armor which works just like the separate upgrades but with all the power chips. I decided to go with Force Armor for the non-Ultimate Armor from X-4, I'm treating them as separate armors.

I may not have played any of the games, but I sure spent a long time going through scripts to find out how many armors X has gotten and what they can let him do. And to make sure I knew what had happened to Iris. Unfortunately, I haven't found a Command Mission script so I have no idea what happens in that game, and I've got no clue about X8.

Tell me what you think. Too out of character? Did you like it? Hate it? Felt Iris should be dropped off the nearest cliff? Wanted to give Zero a big hug and tell him it would be okay?

Let me know.


	7. Buoyancy and Weight

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Rockman/Megaman X in any way, shape, or form. I also do not own X, Zero, Axl, Alia, or Signas. I thought up the ideas for the way the reploids' systems work and operate. Please don't sue.

**Important:**

This chapter is rated PG. No reason, it just is.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Buoyancy and Weight**

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_Sink or Swim..._

..._Yet another thrilling installment of 'Will it Float!?'_

Despite the general conception that reploids, being made of mostly metal alloys, are far heavier than humans, humanoid-type reploids are generally rarely heavier than two times, and often only slightly more than, the weight of a similar-sized human. The idea that reploids generally weigh so much comes from the fact that the armor many reploids choose to wear is made of high-density metallic alloys.

Reploid armor is designed to withstand several tons of direct pressure damage as well as being capable of deflecting most bladed weapons and withstanding direct plasma-based weapons fire. The amount of damage the armor can sustain before the damage is inflicted directly upon the reploid varies depending on the type of armor and the alloys used in its construction.

Most armor is built with high-density, heavy metals and alloys. The high density materials aid in protecting the reploid from damage inflicted on it by attacks. However, these materials are quite heavy and can result in as much as quadrupling, or not more, the total weight of the reploid when worn. Making armor out of such heavy materials would be unfeasible if it weren't for the exponentially greater strength a reploid possesses. Armor designed for humans must, necessarily, be made of a much lighter material.

The reploid's body itself, without armor, is designed to be relatively lightweight considering the materials it's constructed out of. The skeletal structure is made of a lightweight, slightly flexible, and highly durable metal alloy. The internal systems casing is also made of a flexible, lightweight metal that allows for highly flexible movements on the reploid's part while maintaining protection against injury to the internal systems.

Despite being made mainly out of metallic alloys, humanoid-type reploids are almost uniformly built to have positive buoyancy when out of armor. There are multiple factors that contribute to a reploid's overall buoyancy.

While most humanoid-types are capable of floating in water, other types of reploids, most notably animal-types and humanoid-animal-types such as canine, feline, and avian builds, do not have positive buoyancy due to the synthetic fur or feathers that cover their body. The synthetic fur and feathers tend to become waterlogged and increase the reploid's base weight to the point where their buoyancy tends toward negative.

A reploid's synthetic flesh is fairly lightweight and has positive buoyancy in water. The synthflesh covers the reploid's entire body, in some places up to several inches thick. It's structured to mimic muscle mass and is imbedded with thousands of delicate tactile sensors and electro-stimulators. These stimulators respond to subconscious signals from the reploid's processor to mimic shifting and twitching muscles and flesh.

The reploid's circulatory system is another factor in their buoyancy. The mixture of coolant, nutrient-rich energy conduction fluid, and auto-repair nanites that make up reploid blood is actually lighter than water and will float to the surface, forming an oil-like slick.

Just as a metal ocean liner or military aircraft carrier can float on water due to the amount of water it displaces and its hollow nature, so does a humanoid-type reploid body displace enough water while maintaining a light enough overall weight to avoid sinking.

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High Commander Signas, head of the entire Maverick Hunters organization sat at his desk and frowned across at the three reploids filing into his office and sorting out who sat where. He sighed and turned back to the reports laid out on his desk, trying vainly to ignore the muttered complaints of the tallest of his visitors at not getting to the overstuffed armchair in the corner fast enough to snag it for himself. 'Could he go nowhere without causing some sort of incident?' He frowned mentally down at the reports and lists of expenses billed to HQ. 'Was it really too much to ask that he try to keep things in the realm of sanity?'

Finally, Signas looked up to regard the three reploids as they finished sorting out who was sitting where. Zero was sitting in a standard office chair, trying to emphasize how uncomfortable he looked and pouting over at Axl who was ensconced in the armchair. X, sitting in the center office chair across from Signas' desk, was looking put-upon and trying to ignore his two friends, who sat on either side of him, as they glared across him at each other. All three of them had an air of suppressed curiosity about them, despite the glaring contest. As well they should, considering that Signas had not given any hints as to why he had called them in to his office.

Signas cleared his throat lightly to catch the wandering attention of his three best Hunters. "So glad all of you could join me. I understand you and your unit made a late night of it." He made eye contact with Zero, who grinned and hid a yawn behind his hand. "It took quite a bit of footwork to track you down this morning, Zero. Sorry for making you two wait." Signas nodded to X and Axl. "I had considered starting without you, Zero. However, considering that most of this meeting is in regards to you, I decided it best to wait until you were all here." Signas frowned at Zero who smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"The meeting's all about me? I'm flattered Signas. Though not sure what could be important enough to haul us all in here. Not like there's been any maverick buildups lately that require a good busting up." Zero grinned and leaned back, kicking his feet out and crossing them at the ankles while folding his hands behind his head.

Signas scowled. "Don't play dumb, Zero. We all know you're not as clueless as you usually seem."

Zero reared back, eyes wide in feigned shock. "Me? Play dumb? That's crazy talk, Signas."

X frowned and discreetly thumped Zero in the back of the head as he uncrossed his arms and leaned forward to regard Signas.

"Ouch! Hey!"

X ignored Zero's protests as he regarded Signas. "What did he do this time? And how bad was it that Axl and I need to know?"

"HEY!"

Axl snickered but abruptly straightened, and schooled his face into blank neutrality at Zero's sharp glare.

Signas sighed and picked out several reports from the ordered mess on his desk. "Not as bad as you might think, considering it _is_ Zero we're talking about. However, the reason you two are here is only marginally connected to Zero's problem."

"Hey! I take offense at that! I do _not_ have a problem!" Zero remained mostly ignored by the others.

Signas shook his head. "Zero, you know I'm your friend, not just your commanding officer. And I'm telling you this as a friend. You cannot keep doing this stuff!" He waved the reports at Zero in exasperation. "Have you any idea how bad this makes you look?"

Axl leaned forward in interest. "What happened? What are those?"

Signas sighed and pushed the reports across the desk to within reach of X and Axl. X scooped them up first and looked them over. Axl leaned eagerly over his shoulder.

X blinked as he read over the lists and the report summary. "Expense reports. Charges to HQ expense accounts..."

"A transport truck full of live chickens?" Axl blurted out incredulously at the list.

"A drum barrel specially filled with hot fudge..." X frowned down at the list as he ran down the items charged to HQ accounts.

"How-to video and audio databases for learning Spanish in 12 easy steps??" Axl read off in confusion.

"And four prom dresses and eight feather boas." Signas sighed and reached up to rub the bridge of his nose in a gesture picked up from dealing with stressed humans for years.

X turned bewildered eyes to Zero. "Good Lord, Zero, what were you _doing_?"

"Border crossing charges, hotel expenses, and _bail fees_ from _Peru_!" Axl blinked and barely restrained his laughter at the possible explanations for these bills.

"Hey! I have no idea what you're talking about! I don't charge weird things to HQ expense accounts!" Zero scowled right back his arms crossed over his chest defensively.

"Well, nothing actually has Zero's name on it..." Axl trailed off as he flipped through the report that X still held.

"You see! You can't blame that on me. It's probably some hooligan's prank." Zero nodded confidently.

"Who just happened to have off-base leave that corresponds with yours." Signas frowned.

"Hey, I was never even _near_ Peru! There's no way you can pin this on me." Zero glared right back.

"This _hooligan_ seems to always strike during corresponding periods when you're off base. In fact, I always seem to end up with the most bizarre expense reports in the history of HQ whenever you're off-base for more than a day." Signas frowned back at Zero.

"Hey, lots of Hunters have leave at the same times I do. That's no proof." Zero nodded and leaned back, folding his arms again.

Signas sighed. "Zero, the only reason you haven't been caught is because you're smart enough not to slip up. But this has to stop. Have you any idea what a bad example you're setting for your unit? They practically worship you, Zero. _ Especially _the rookies. Why? I have no idea, but they do."

"Hey, I'm a very likeable guy." Zero smirked confidently as he struck as heroic a pose as he could in a hard, uncomfortable office chair. Signas sighed as X shook his head and Axl tried to hide his snickering.

"Zero, I'm serious. You cannot keep doing these insane stunts. Don't even _try_ to play the wounded innocent." Signas held up a finger warningly. "Everyone in this room knows perfectly well that you are _far_ from innocent."

Zero shut his mouth with a snap and pouted, scowling at Signas.

"Granted, there's no evidence that can prove, without a doubt, that you pulled this stuff off. But that can't be said for some of the stuff your hero-worshipping rookies are likely to try, given half a chance. I do not want to have to give the boot to rookies who should know better, but don't, because their own commander refuses to grow up and act his age."

"Act my age?" Zero scoffed. "If I did that, I'd have to pretend I'm dead all the time. Not many humans over a hundred and twenty you know. And being dead sucks. No fun, no friends, no girls." Zero frowned. "I'd rather be like that Pete Pot guy in X's book, you know, the one who doesn't grow up." Zero nodded.

"Pan, Zero. It's Peter Pan, how can you get that wrong?" X sighed and shook his head. "Never mind."

"He doesn't grow up? I thought he just flew. And, you know, had a fairy." Axl blinked.

Signas sighed again. "I'm not asking you to act as old as you actually are, Zero. You and X are a pair of the best-kept antiques I've ever seen. All I'm saying is that you need to start acting at least as old as you look. Half the time you act like a human five-year old." Signas shook his head.

Zero pouted. "I do not. Besides, whatever happened to you're only as old as you feel, huh?"

"Zero, this isn't just because of the impressionable rookies." Signas sighed and picked up another report. "The Global U.N. Council is breathing down my neck on this. There are more bizarre expense reports coming from you alone than from any three other units combined, not counting the 17th or 0th; but everyone knows those units are full of lunatics." He leveled a knowing look at X and Zero. X had the decency to look embarrassed. "And we all know why. They'd have to be crazy to be able to put up with you two and not go out of their minds or have nervous breakdowns from all the close calls."

Zero frowned. "You have no proof that those are all from me."

"Of course not. That's why the G. U.N. Council hasn't sent anyone down here to haul you away." Signas sighed and shook his head. "Zero, just one slip-up, one mistake, and they'll come down on you so hard there won't be enough left of you to fill a bucket."

Zero blinked and looked surprised, then a darker scowl than any previous flitted across his features. "They wouldn't dare..."

Axl frowned, "Zero's a global hero, just as much as X is. The public uprising if the Council tried anything..."

"I know, I know." Signas groaned, holding his head in his hands for a second. "They suspect; they suspect very deeply that it's been Zero. I don't know where they got their information, but they all but know. The only thing that's stopped them from acting arbitrarily in the past is that you _are_ a global hero, and well liked by humans and reploids alike. Ironically, it's your reputation that's kept the Council hounds off of you, Zero."

X scowled. "Retribution for the lost funds is not worth the political upheavals going after Zero would bring onto the Council. What are they up to?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. I may have originally been intended to be the Council's puppet commander to keep the Hunters in check, but since I chose to place my loyalty fully with the Hunters and the job we do, rather than political string-pullers, most factions have been leery of sharing any information with me. The run-around every time." Signas scowled. "Even playing the factions off of each other hasn't uncovered anything that could explain this, aside from an unreasonable vengeance for misspent petty funds." Signas shook his head and tossed the documents back to the mess on his desk. "All I can think of, is that it could be inter-circle politicking; one group setting another up to fail by sending them after Zero. Frankly, you're the safer target and the only reasonable one for such a maneuver. Everyone with even a few brain cells to rub together knows trying to get rid of X would be political suicide. And despite your best efforts to the contrary, Axl, there's not enough suspicious dirt about you to make a feasible target for this mess." Signas shook his head. "I'm trying my best here, Zero, but continuing with these insane schemes of yours is not helping at all. You've got to stop doing this stuff, at the very least, for a while, until all this blows over and the Council settles down again."

"They'd never pull it off and you know it Signas." Zero frowned as he met Signas' eyes with his serious blue ones.

"Zero, you know I'd go to bat for you. No question about it. But there's not a whole lot that that would do. The Council is not going to listen to someone they still consider a puppet most of the time, a failed puppet at that. Doesn't matter that I'm Hunter High Commander. They're not going to listen once they get their hooks into you. Especially if the factions we're dealing with here are dumb enough to try to haul you off in the first place. I've done the best I can to keep these stunts internal and out of Council reports. Council usually only wants to know success rates and combat and personnel statistics, not what crazy stunt a global hero decided to pull this week. I don't know how they found out about this stuff, but they did."

"Information leak..." X scowled as he considered the possibility.

"Likely. Until it's plugged we have stick together on this. More importantly, we can't give them any openings to exploit. That means no more stunts, Zero." Signas leveled his stern gaze at the blonde hunter.

Zero frowned but nodded. "Not saying I did any of that, cause I didn't, but I'll keep an eye out for the hooligan and make sure things cool down for as long as I can."

"Good." Signas nodded, progress at last. "Now, as High Commander, it would be well within my jurisdiction to reprimand you for this sort of thing, had you done it." Signas nodded to the paper field on his desk. "However, I'm not going to. Instead, I'm going to assign you a new mission that will hopefully turn your more troublesome qualities into a valuable resource."

"Oh?" Zero leaned forward in anticipation.

"Indeed. But that brings us to why you're here, X."

X blinked. "Sir?"

"X, certain things have come to my attention that cannot be allowed to continue as they have." Signas frowned at the shorter, blue-armored reploid who blinked back in complete confusion.

"Sir?"

"Ooooh. X is in trouble." Zero grinned as he chanted in a singsong voice.

"Shhh. I wanna hear." Axl interrupted as he leaned forward to keep an eye on X and Signas' expressions. X glared at the both of them with a scowl.

Signas frowned. "Quiet you two." Both immediately clammed up, but continued to watch avidly. Signas sighed. "X, you cannot keep this up."

"Signas, I don't understand. What can't I continue to do?" X was genuinely confused; as far as he knew, he hadn't done anything to get in trouble over.

"It has come to my attention that in the past six years you have only taken a single vacation off base. And a little bird told me that you had to be shanghaied just to get you off base and away to have a proper vacation."

"Sir, what does my vacation time have to do with anything?" X asked in confusion.

"X, I am your friend. But I am also High Commander. As such, I have to take into consideration not only the well being of each individual Hunter, but the entire Hunter organization as well. That's why I'm the one who wears the big tin hat. Granted, X, not only are you older and far more experienced in many ways than I am, but you are generally more respected than I. You could probably get just about every Hunter to follow your orders without question, just by asking."

X broke in with a protest on his lips. "Signas, I'd-"

Signas cut him off with a placating motion of his hand. "Calm down, X. I know you'd never pull a coup like that. You _have_ turned down the position more than once. I've never seen anyone so eager to get out of a position of authority, except for when the position was offered to Zero." Signas smirked over at the blonde Hunter, "I don't think I've ever seen anyone run quite that fast before." Zero snorted and pretended not to have heard him. "I've had to work very hard to gain and maintain the respect and authority over the Hunters. It is not easy, especially after having been given the position with virtually no field experience, and in favor over the two best Hunters, who were not only far more experienced, but also far more liked and respected than I. I could never have pulled it off without the support of you two as advisors on my staff. A large part of making this work is making sure every Hunter is as well taken care of as can be managed with what we have to work with. Therefore, I am doing this not only as your High Commander, in the best interests of all involved, but also as your friend who thinks you definitely need it. X, I am ordering you to leave Hunter Head Quarters."

"W-wha-what!?" X stammered out in complete shock as he stared dumbfounded at Signas.

"You will pack your bags and will leave HQ by tomorrow. You will not-"Signas was abruptly cut off by the protests of the other two Hunters in the room. X just stared at him, stricken speechless in shock.

"You can't be serious!" Axl cried in horror, springing to his feet.

"You can't kick X out!" Zero shouted, uncoiling from his seat with frightening speed.

"Calm down. Calm down all of you. I am _not_ throwing X out of the Hunters." Signas placated the two dangerously angry Hunters.

"Y-you're not?" Axl trailed off, relief and confusion mixed on his face.

"No, I am not. I am however, ordering him to take a vacation off base." Signas turned a stern, authoritative glare onto X. "And you are not to return until the end of your off-duty period, preferably well relaxed, and happy. Unless in the case of a dire emergency, and probably not even then. I'm sure the world can survive for a week without you keeping yourself too busy to relax properly, X."

"Signas, sir, you can't be serious." X sputtered bewilderedly. "You can't order me to take a vacation off base. That's just... just...." X groped vainly for words.

"I can. And I will. X, you will leave HQ and take a vacation off base. And damnit, man, you will enjoy yourself!" Signas frowned sternly at X.

"But... but..." X stammered as Zero burst into laughter and flopped back into his chair, as relaxed as he had been before his outburst.

"X, I am perfectly serious about this." Signas frowned down at the smaller reploid. "You will take a vacation, starting tomorrow, for one week, off-base. In fact, out of the city, and hopefully out of the country as well. And you will enjoy it."

"But you can't order me to do that!" X wailed, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "I can take my down-time on base as easily as off. What's wrong with staying at HQ?" By this time, Axl had joined in the laughter from the peanut gallery witnessing X's flustered state.

"X, have you any idea what this looks like?" Signas asked exasperatedly as he faced down the confused and somewhat frantic reploid. "Don't you see what this looks like? You cannot take all your downtime at HQ. You are supposed to be taking vacations, not hanging around, on-call, to deal with every little nothing that lazy office workers can push at you. You have to start taking your vacations as real vacations. Do you have any idea how bad you're making the Hunters look? Let alone making me look?"

"W-huh? What are you talking about?" X blinked in confusion.

"X, if it ever got out to public knowledge that Commander X, hero of humanity, savior of the world more than ten times over, has not had a proper vacation in over six years... X, if _any_ reploid were ever deserving of vacation time, to take time off for himself, it would be _you_. If word got out that you hadn't left HQ for downtime away from your work more than _once_ in _six years_, the public would think we were slave drivers here! We'd probably have a lynch mob on the front lawns in less than a day! For your own sake, as well as everyone else's, you _have_ to start taking proper vacations. That means, away from HQ."

"But... but..."

X was interrupted as a laughing Zero leaned over and slung his arm around his shoulders. "Haha heheheh. I told you, you needed to start taking real vacations!"

"Glad you approve Zero. Because you're going too." Signas leveled his finger at Zero's surprised look.

"Huh? I am?"

"Yes, you are. This is your new mission, Zero. I've scheduled a corresponding week of downtime for you as well. You are in charge of making sure X leaves HQ and takes this vacation. And I want him to enjoy himself!"

"W-what! You can't be serious, Signas!" X cried in horror.

"Haha! This'll be great, X!" Zero crowed, pumping his fist in the air.

"I am serious, X. In all the time I've known you, Zero is practically the only person who can consistently get you to relax and head off base for some downtime. Granted, he _is_ a menace. But he's _our_ menace. This will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. You get your vacation and placate the masses as well as having time for yourself, and Zero gets to connive and scheme a fun vacation for you both. Hopefully this will get it out of his system and prevent him from cooking up any more lunatic schemes while he's away from HQ that might bring the Council down on him."

"But... but... You can't... I mean... It just..."

"Don't you worry, Signas! I'll take good care of our little X here! We're gonna have a great time! Right X?" Zero grinned as he squeezed X's shoulders and practically clonked their heads together.

"Signas!" X wailed as Zero shook him back and forth in his one-armed hug.

Signas grinned. "Glad you approve, Zero. Now, the last item of business today. Axl." Signas turned to the redheaded, youthful reploid.

Axl quickly composed himself and straightened up. "Sir?" Axl swallowed nervously in anticipation. Considering the previous two topics, this was either going to be really good, or really bad.

"Axl, you are already scheduled for leave this week, starting tomorrow. I'm not certain what plans you have made, if any. However, I'm going to ask, not order, but _ask_, that you accompany X and Zero on their vacation."

Axl blinked. "Sir?"

"Hey! The more the merrier, kid!" Zero laughed. "I'll need all the help I can get, getting X to relax and have fun!"

"A-are you sure? I mean, I already made plans. I was going to go on my own, but we can upgrade the accommodations for three easily. I mean, if you guys don't mind."

"All the better! I hadn't had anywhere booked yet, hard to do that when you don't realize you're getting downtime, ya know. If you've got a place already booked, and you don't mind sharing, then that's even better!" Zero grinned, running right over any protests X might have made.

"Great!" Axl grinned enthusiastically.

"Wonderful!" Signas smiled at the three. "I'm glad you decided to go with them, Axl. While X can usually keep Zero in hand, despite all of his antics, sometimes even he doesn't realize what Zero's been up to until he's been dragged hip deep into it. If X is going to relax, then I don't want him having to worry about what insane stunt Zero will pull next."

"Hey!"

"So I want you, Axl, to go along with them and keep an eye on them. Try to make sure they don't get into _too_ much trouble." Signas nodded to Axl.

Axl stared at him, thunderstruck for a second. "Y-you want _me_ to keep them out of trouble? B-but..."

"Now, I understand you're a lot younger than either X or Zero, Axl. And, despite how old you actually are, you still tend to act fairly young. But honestly, most of the time you act a lot more mature than Zero. And I don't want X to have to worry about what Zero's been up to while he's relaxing."

"Hey!!" Zero cried indignantly. Everyone ignored him.

"You're the best choice for this, Axl. You know Zero better than almost everyone else. I have confidence that you'll be able to identify and defuse any situation Zero might try to stir up over the next week." Signas smiled reassuringly at the nervous youth.

X sighed heavily. "I'm not getting out of this, am I?"

"Not a chance, X." Signas replied with a grin.

"Well then, all the help I can get, when it comes to Zero, is more than welcome." X smiled at Axl.

"HEY! This is totally uncalled for! I do not need a babysitter!" Zero cried as he threw his hands up.

"Of course you don't, Zero." X soothed. "You need a keeper." He grinned at Zero's indignant glare.

Signas chuckled, "Go on, all three of you, get packed and arrange the accommodations. You're to leave tomorrow, early. And I don't want to see any of you back here for at least a full week!" Signas shooed the bickering duo and the laughing redhead out of the room before chuckling and turning back to his desk to scoop up the reports and shove them into the nearest convenient folder for sorting later.

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X, Zero, and Axl headed out of Signas' office and down the hallway towards the lifts, Zero smiling and waving to Signas' secretary, Jeanne, as they passed. The various reploid and human office workers hurrying through the hallways of this level would usually step sideways in deference to let the trio pass without having to walk single file down the hall.

X shook his head ruefully and lifted off his helmet to run a hand through his hair. "I can't believe Signas actually ordered this. It's just ridiculous."

"It's not that bad, X, really. You do take too much onto yourself. You really should get away from HQ more often. There's a whole world of stuff out there that you're missing out on by staying here every downtime." Axl nodded as he kept up alongside X's left shoulder.

"Kid's right, X. There're all kinds of awesome places to visit and stuff to do for downtime. Especially since the whole Restoration really picked up speed. Hanging around HQ and the city every downtime you get, you've really been missing out on the rest of the world." Zero shook his head. "Cheer up, X. It's about time someone forced you off the compound." He reached over and ruffled X's hair. "Time for our little blue buddy to leave the nest and see the world." X ducked away from Zero's hand and glared at the taller blonde. "So, Axl, our vacation planner-man, where, oh where are we headed to?" Zero turned with a grin to Axl as they rounded the corner.

"Well, like I said earlier, I already had plans made and a room booked at a resort for this week. We probably won't be able to get any extra rooms, but I think we can manage a switch with a double room. We'd have to share though, maybe get a cot for a third bed." Axl paused and glanced over at the two reploids he looked up to most. "You guys don't mind do you?"

"Nah." Zero shook his head. "It'll be like a sleepover or something." He paused. "But if one of us brings a girl back, the other two have to clear out." Zero nodded, then paused again. "You don't snore do you?"

"No. Never had anyone tell me so." Axl shook his head. "Do you, X?"

"Huh? Do I what?" X blinked over at the redhead in surprise.

Zero reached over and rapped him on top of the head. "Pay attention, man. Nope, X doesn't snore. Least, not that I've ever heard, and we've had to share quarters for a while, on occasion."

"What'cha so distracted by, X?" Axl asked.

"Huh? Oh, I could have sworn I heard my name being called." X paused in the hall and turned to glance behind him, peering through the crowd uncertainly.

"Hehe, you hearing things now? This is orders, X, my friend. You are not getting a medical excuse to get out of your vacation." Zero grinned as he turned to face X and Axl.

"I'm not making it up!" X went pink in the cheeks and scowled at the grinning blonde. "I am not trying to get out of the trip. Signas would just order me to take another one. And then what? I'd spend all my time on vacations? That would probably get me accused of shirking my responsibilities." X frowned at Zero.

"Don't be ridiculous. Who in their right mind could accuse you of shirking your responsibilities and get _anyone_ to believe it." Axl shook his head as he turned to face X as the three stood in a group in the hallway. "In fact, I don't think I know anyone who's _more_ responsible than you are. I say it's about time you started being less responsible and having more fun now and then."

Zero nodded in agreement. "Now come on, the three of us have a lot of packing to do." Grinning, Zero gave X a little push forward toward the lifts at the end of this stretch of hallway.

The three headed down the hallway again and reached the lift doors. Just as they were entering, and Zero had pushed the button for the floor their personal quarters were on, they were interrupted by a breathless voice calling to them from down the hall.

"Wait! Hold the lift!"

X stepped forward onto the door track sensors to prevent the lift doors from closing and shifted to try to see who had shouted. It wasn't easy considering he was the shortest of the three and most of the office workers rushing down the hall tended to be taller. Zero stepped forward and peered over his shoulder, then started grinning.

"Can you see who it is?" X craned his neck to try to see over the latest gaggle of passing reploids.

"Yup." Zero grinned.

"Well...?" X pinned his blonde friend with a demanding gaze.

"You'll see." Zero grinned impishly. X sighed.

A moment later the owner of the voice slipped between the flow of workers and darted out of the hallway mainstream and into the lift. She nearly bumped into X as she slipped past him. X blushed slightly and stepped back out of the doorway into the lift, letting the doors slide shut behind him.

"Gah. Thanks X. It's a madhouse out there this time of day." Alia smiled as she pushed the button for her floor before leaning against the back of the lift and shifting the stack of files she was carrying.

"Good morning to you too, Alia." Zero replied with a put-out air of neglect.

Alia grinned. "Morning Zero, Axl, X. Heard Signas called you in this morning."

X nodded as Axl chuckled and rubbed the back of his helmet with one hand.

"So? Which one of you was it about this time? Hmm?" She looked pointedly at Zero.

"Hey, why are you looking at me? I didn't do anything." Zero pouted.

"Of course not." Alia smirked knowingly. "Just some good-for-nothing prankster, I'm sure."

Axl laughed. "She's definitely got you made, Zero. If I were you, I'd give up while I was ahead."

"Hmmph. Shows what you know." Zero scowled at the snickering youth.

"So, X. I heard you guys were all going on leave tomorrow." Alia turned to meet X's green eyes with a smile.

"You did?" X blinked in surprise at this.

"We just found out a few minutes ago. How'd you find out so fast?" Zero turned to regard her in surprise.

"Wow! I knew the HQ rumor mill was fast, but that's just eerie." Axl whistled in amazement.

Alia giggled. "Nothing like that. Signas asked me to rearrange your downtime schedules to get you this week off." She lifted the folders in explanation.

X chuckled. "Yeah, we're leaving tomorrow for a week."

"Got anywhere in mind?" Alia queried, glancing around at the three.

"Actually, Axl was just about to tell us where we're going." X turned inquiring eyes to the redhead leaning against the back wall of the lift. Zero regarded Alia with veiled contemplation, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

Axl grinned. "You'll love it. I have a room booked at the Klonoa beachside hotel in Hawaii for the week. It's on Oahu. We're gonna try to get my reservation swapped for a double room and a cot though. It's probably too late to get two extra rooms. It's a real hotspot for vacations and tourists. One of the first reef ecosystems to return to normal is just off shore there. The Restoration efforts have really paid off on Oahu Island. The brochures say that the island ecosystem has almost recovered to pre-Eurasia levels. There's lots of tropical resort stuff for us to do too, if nature watching isn't your thing." Axl nodded toward Zero. "I've never seen a tropical reef before. I've heard it's supposed to be awesome." Axl grinned as he folded his hands behind his head.

Alia smiled. "Sounds like you guys are going to have a great time."

"Actually, that does sound fun." X smiled as Axl nodded and grinned.

Zero grinned wickedly and stepped forward. Leaning over close to Alia, he smiled winningly at her. "Sooo... Why so interested? Hmmm?"

"N-no reason." Pink tinged Alia's cheeks as she shifted nervously. Her eyes flicked briefly to X before she glanced down at her feet.

"Come on." Zero wheedled persuasively. "You can tell us."

"Did you need help with something before we left?" X asked in concern as he took a step closer to her.

Alia blushed a little deeper. "N-no. That's not it." She shifted the folders in her arms up to clutch defensively against her chest.

Zero straightened up and took a discreet step back, snagging Axl's elbow with a wink, and pulling him along to the other side of the lift car from Alia and X. They exchanged conspiratorial grins before turning back to watch the other two.

"Do you think you'll need to get in touch with us while we're away?" X persisted gently.

"N-no." Alia blushed a deeper shade of pink and ducked her head. "I- It's just that... Well... my own leave begins in three days. And... well... I was kind of hoping... since our downtime corresponds... Maybe... If you don't mind... I could join you at the resort for the rest of our vacations." Alia trailed off hopefully, raising her blue eyes to meet X's green ones.

X blushed pink across his cheeks and opened and shut his mouth soundlessly for a second. Then he straightened up slightly before stammering out a reply. "W-well... That is... I... if Zero and Axl don't mind... That is... It's your vacation... and well... if you want to come... to-to the resort... I... I-I d-don't see why not..." X ducked his head, trying vainly to hide the vividly growing blush that was threatening to flood across his entire face.

Neither of them had noticed Zero and Axl hurriedly whispering in the background, or Zero furiously scribbling on a small piece of notepaper. Glancing up, Zero noticed that both X and Alia were too busy staring at their feet to notice the vivid blushes on each other's faces. Shaking his head with a sigh, Zero stepped forward into the sudden breach of silence.

"Here you go Alia! This here's the address and number and comm. channel for the hotel. We'll send you our room number as soon as we figure it out ourselves." Zero grinned brightly at her as he presented the slip of paper. Alia accepted it, still struggling to contain her blush. "Feel free to drop in anytime! I'm sure we'll all be glad to see you, right X?" Zero clapped X on the shoulder.

X jumped and glanced up; his cheeks still a vivid pink. "R-right." He nodded.

"And be sure to let us know if you need any help picking out a swimsuit." Axl grinned from where he leaned against the wall. Alia blinked at him in confusion. Axl smiled nonchalantly. "Zero and I might be kinda busy checking out some of the girls already at the beach, but I bet X would be happy to help you pick something nice out." Axl grinned and winked at her. Alia flushed a bright pink. X blinked for a second before his own blush returned with a vengeance. Just then, the lift doors opened to the floor Alia had chosen.

"I-I have to get going. I-I need to finish... finish cataloguing the supplies in the cafeteria storerooms." Alia rushed the last part of her explanation before practically bolting from the lift car and out the doors. X blinked in surprise as she rushed past him. Before he had a chance to say anything, the doors shut behind her and the lift continued on its way.

"B-but, why would she need to do that?" X stared at the closed doors for a moment before glancing at his two friends. "Cataloguing storeroom supplies isn't part of her duties..." X trailed off as he glanced back at the doors. Zero and Axl exchanged glances. "D-do you suppose Signas is that short staffed this week? Or maybe Alia is just picking up slack to cover for someone..." X frowned slightly. "She shouldn't take on so much work. She already has a lot of tough responsibilities. She doesn't need to overwork herself..." X frowned worriedly as he gazed after her.

Zero sighed as Axl shook his head. Clueless as usual. Poor X. Zero glanced over and met Axl's eyes as they shared an unspoken agreement. They nodded slightly in unison. X definitely needed the help of those more experienced in the ways of women. Good thing he had them around.

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Early the next day, Xavier, Zane, and Ace; three, not-particularly important, vacationing Maverick Hunters; checked into the Klonoa hotel on Oahu and received keys to their double room. A cot had already been sent up in preparation for their arrival.

The first thing Zero did on entering the room was to drop his suitcase and stretch out, arms over his head. X ducked around him and dropped his own suitcase at the foot of one of the beds.

"I can take the cot, if you want." X turned to address Axl as he stepped in around Zero.

"Don't be ridiculous. You're supposed to be enjoying this vacation. You get one of the beds." Zero nodded.

"Should I take the cot?" Axl asked as he hefted his suitcase onto the floor.

"Nah, I'll take it." Zero nodded. "You rented the room in the first place, only fair." Zero lifted his suitcase and plonked it down onto the end of the cot.

"You sure?" Axl queried in surprise as he lifted his own suitcase again and headed for the second bed.

"Yup. Now, I think I'm gonna change and check out the beach. You guys gonna come too?" Zero snapped open his suitcase and flipped the lid back. "What the hell?!" Zero stared down at the contents of his suitcase in horror.

"What's wrong?" X walked over to Zero and followed his gaze. X blinked and resisted the urge to rub his eyes.

"Stupid airport staff! They gave me the wrong luggage!"

"Er... Zero, we didn't use an airliner to get here. We teleported." Axl frowned as he joined the two in staring into Zero's suitcase.

"Well, how else do you explain this... this...!" Zero waved haphazardly at the contents of his suitcase as speech failed him.

Axl and X blinked in confusion. Where there had previously been folded shirts and pants and various other articles of clothing, were now a frantic jumble of colors and patterns that left the eyes reeling with shock.

Axl reached out and lifted up the nearest item and shook it out. "What the...? Zero... I think a fiesta threw up in your suitcase."

"I don't own any of these!" Zero wailed as he lifted out another. "Where are all my clothes?"

X blinked and lifted out another loud item. A piece of paper flitted out of the folds and drifted to the bedspread. Setting down his handful of clothing, X picked up the note and unfolded it.

"_Commander, _

_We heard you were heading for Hawaii for the week. Thought we should give you a going away gift. Sorry we weren't there to see you off. Hope you enjoy these. Have fun!_

_The 0th,_

_P.S. Tag did some research and since you're going to Hawaii, we figured these Hawaiian shirts would be appropriate beachwear. Take lots of pictures!_"

"I'm going to kill them." Zero growled, "What the hell did they do with all my clothes!" X snickered as Axl started laughing.

"Calm down, Zero. I'm sure your clothes are safe back at HQ. You'll just have to wear those for now." Axl grinned as he and X headed to their own suitcases.

"I will not! Look at them! It-it... It's like a fruit stand exploded on it!!"

X chuckled as he snapped the catches on his own suitcase open and flipped the lid back. His chuckle died in his throat as he gazed on the contents of his own suitcase in horror. "Oh no... No... No, no. They didn't... They couldn't..." X moaned as he gazed on the glaringly vivid colors and patterns filling his suitcase.

Axl glanced over and blinked at X's suitcase, then regarded his own, unopened one. "Now I'm afraid to open it."

A whimper rose from Zero as he lifted a horrifically colored, nearly neon, lime green, orange, purple, and turquoise pair of shorts, depicting colorful birds, from his suitcase.

"Best to get it over with..." X sighed down at his own suitcase as he lifted out a pink, green, mauve, and brown shirt depicting some sort of beach party with women in grass skirts. "That way, we'll know how many times we have to kill them when we get back."

Axl nodded then hesitantly opened his own suitcase. Axl sighed. "How the hell did they even get at our suitcases to do this?" he moaned as he lifted out his own glaringly lavender, red, pink, and green flowered shirt.

Zero moaned, "I've taught them well... too well... I've created a monster!" he wailed as he scrabbled desperately through the clothing in his suitcase for anything that was safe to wear without contracting radiation poisoning.

"Well, at least my swim trunks are still here." X lifted a pair of dark blue swimming trunks out of the bottom of his suitcase. Yellow stripes ran down the outside of each leg from the waistband to the cuffs.

"Same here." Axl lifted out his own pair of swimming shorts, black with a red waistband and red cuffs on each leg. "How about you, Zero?"

Zero forlornly lifted out his red swim trunks and held them up. "They're here, but I'm still going shopping later. I am not wearing something that dozens of piñatas were killed to make."

"Then we'll all go later today. But first, we should check out the beach and relax some." Axl said as he tossed his swim trunks onto the bed and shut his suitcase.

X nodded. "I don't think Signas would be very happy if we teleported back to HQ to beat the scrap out of our units until they released our hostage-clothing. He did order us to relax." X sighed as he shut his own suitcase.

"Not to mention the whole, 'go away and don't come back till the end of the week! And you had better have fun!' part." Axl sighed.

Zero sighed, "Might as well, the evil clothing swappers will still be there when we get back. All the better to wait until they don't expect anything."

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Less than an hour later found the three of them trooping out of the hotel, wearing swimming trunks and sandals, towels thrown over their shoulders, as they headed for the beach, lightly populated with early-morning vacationers. After a moment of consideration, they selected a stretch of empty sand, just down the beach from a surf-shack that sold all sorts of beach gear, to dump their things while they went swimming.

Zero pushed his bangs out of his eyes and stretched slightly as he surveyed the area. "Hrm. Must be too early. There's hardly anyone out here, and even fewer in bikinis." Zero pouted as he peered down the beach at a couple of pretty girls, only to sigh and shake his head as two guys, who were obviously their boyfriends, joined them.

X shook his head as he shook out his beach towel. "Relax, Zero. We just got here, after all."

Axl nodded. "We should just relax for now. All the better that the beach is nearly empty. We've practically got it all to ourselves, for now. Besides, this place will probably be crawling later today. Much better prospects." Axl nodded sagely.

X shook his head and tossed Axl's folded towel onto the youth's head. "I thought you were here to relax and see the sights, not pick up girls."

"Hey!" Axl protested as he tugged the towel off his head. "Not everyone has a lovely special someone waiting around back at HQ you know."

"W-what? I do not!" X protested as he flushed pink across his face.

Zero grinned and nudged his best friend conspiratorially. "He never said it was _you_, X. Why? _Do_ you have a special someone? _Hmmm_?" Zero leaned towards him with a grin.

"I-I... That is... N-no! Of course not!" X stammered, blushing furiously as he shoved Zero away from him.

"_Sure_, of_ course _not." Axl nodded then tossed his towel at X's head. X ducked reflexively and glared at Axl. "You're such a horrible liar, X." Axl grinned and shook his head.

Zero chuckled. "Kid's right, X. You shouldn't bother trying."

"I do not!" X cried, blushing deeper. "No special someone! None!"

"Uh-huh. _Suure_." Zero nodded with a knowing smirk.

"I-I... It's not... She's... There isn't... Alia and I are just friends!" X cried and crossed his arms in a huff, glaring at them, despite his flushed cheeks.

Axl grinned and leaned forward to point his finger a few inches away from X's nose. "Who said anything about _Alia_?"

X turned a vivid shade of red and sputtered for a moment, unable to form coherent speech. Zero burst into laughter and stood up, tugging Axl to his feet as well. "Come on, Romeo, the water's calling. Should you care to join us, I'm sure there are some lobsters you'll blend right in with, X." X gaped at him as Axl started laughing. Zero tugged the redhead into a jog to the nearby surf, both laughing so hard they had trouble running straight.

"H-hey! Get back here! You lunatics! That's not what I meant!!" X shouted as he lunged to his feet and sprinted after them. Axl and Zero burst into laughter as they sprinted into the surf, X, hot on their heels, shouting after them.

A few minutes later, X tackled Zero from behind. They both went sprawling into the water as X repeatedly dunked Zero under the water. Axl, still laughing, tackled X from the side and all three of them pitched over under the next wave. When they came back up to the surface, Zero had X's arms pinned and Axl had caught his legs.

Holding X above the surf in between them Zero, still laughing, whooped in victory. "Haha! Admit it, X!"

"Put me down!" X thrashed in their grip, threatening to tip Axl over as he worked to keep his grip on X's ankles.

"Not until you admit it!" Zero laughed.

"No!" X whipped his body in an arc and Axl lost his footing in the sand, tumbling over under the next wave with a yelp. Before X could get his feet under him to pull away from Zero, Axl surfaced with a splutter and snatched up his feet again.

"Come on, X! Everyone knows. It's not like it's a secret." Axl grinned up at him from where he sat in the surf; legs sprawled to either side. "Come on, just admit it. At least to yourself!"

"There's nothing to admit!" X wailed as he struggled to pull free.

"Then... you're getting dunked!" Zero nodded.

"W-what!" X whipped his head around to stare at Zero.

"Until you at least admit it to yourself, you're getting dunked. Courtesy of your two bestest buds." Zero grinned down at the shorter reploid.

"What! No! Wait!" X gasped in panic as Axl laughingly got to his feet and the two started wading to deeper water. "You're lunatics! The both of you! Put me down!!" X wailed as they got to hip deep water.

"Admit it!" Zero laughed as he hefted X up higher.

"There's nothing to admit!"

"Then a-dunking we will go!" Zero laughed as he and Axl swung X back and forth between them for a second before launching him into the air.

"Zeeroooo!" X shrieked as he went airborne, only to be cut off abruptly as he vanished beneath the waves with a tremendous splash. He burst to the surface, spitting water and gasping as he paddled at the water. Kicking around to face them, X growled. "You..."

"X, this is for your own good." Zero admonished as Axl nodded from beside him.

"M-my own good! Are you insane!!" X cried as he spat out another mouthful of water.

"X, she's coming here the day after tomorrow. This is like your chance!" Axl cried enthusiastically as he kicked off the sandy bottom and swam out closer to X.

"My chance!?"

"Yeah! Oh come on, X! How can you sit there and pretend that you don't like her. It's so obvious to everyone but you! And she's gonna be here. _Here_. At the beach, with swimsuits, and surf, sun, and sand. And she's the one who asked, she _wants_ to spend her vacation with _you_. How can you just sit there and not notice!" Axl urged as he swam closer.

Zero plunged into the water and a second later came to the surface not far from X, kicking and sweeping his hands to stay afloat. "Come on, X. This is an awesome opportunity! You guys have never vacationed in the same place before. You almost never leave HQ anyhow. This is the perfect chance for you to tell her, without having the HQ rumor mill turn it into some sort of scandal."

"_Tell her_? Tell her _what_? We're _friends_, Zero. I am_ not _going to jeopardize that. Whatever you two crazies think is there... It isn't. We're just friends. Alia doesn't see me that way." X scowled at the two as he kicked lightly.

"_Doesn't see you that way_! Doesn't see you! Are you blind!" Zero cried as he swam forward and gripped X's shoulders to shake him slightly.

Axl leaned back in the water to semi-back float. "Hmm. Maybe we should tackle this from the other end. Wait till she gets here and then talk to her." Axl nodded to himself.

X pushed Zero off and turned to glare at Axl. "No way. You are not going to harass her about this crazy notion of yours. We've been friends for decades! Why would she ever see me _that_ way?"

Axl rolled forward in the water to regard X like he had just told him the water they were in was actually lemonade. Zero beat him to the punch.

"Why!? Why would she see you that way!? Did Light drop your logic processor and step on it accidentally when he was building you?!" Zero stared at him incredulously. "She has _every_ reason to like you, X! You're a great guy! Any girl worth anything would gleefully maim to be with you! Alia is no exception."

Axl frowned over at X. "You said, 'why would _she_ see you that way.' Is that why you keep pretending? You think she doesn't like you?"

X stammered as his cheeks flushed again. "That's... That's not..."

"X, you're my best friend. And I'm telling you. She likes you. She likes you a lot. I can't understand how you could not notice it. But she does." Zero swam over to face X. "Come on, X. This is a great opportunity. Take it. When she gets here, talk to her. Tell her how you feel. She won't reject you. I'm sure of it." Zero nodded emphatically.

X shifted uncertainly, looking away from Zero's gaze. "B-but..."

"She likes you, X." Axl smiled at him reassuringly. "And it's obvious to anyone who cares that you like her too. Go for it, X. You won't regret it."

X sighed and looked away, down to his hands under the water. "I... I don't know. I don't want to ruin things."

"You won't. She likes you. No way will she turn you down." Axl grinned.

X sighed again and rolled back into a back float to stare at the sky. "I-I don't know. I... I'll think about it."

Zero sighed. "Well, I guess that's the best we'll get for now." He redoubled his kicking as he reached up to push his sopping bangs out of his eyes.

Axl nodded as he lazily stroked at the water to stay upright. He was built lighter than either X or Zero, easier to use his hover jets that way. He was having no trouble staying afloat, neither was X, but it seemed as though Zero was doing almost twice the work to stay at the surface. Axl blinked and watched Zero for a moment as the blonde looked back at the beach.

"Zero... You're not _that_ heavy, are you?"

"Huh?" Zero turned to stare at Axl who was watching him inquisitively. "What are you talking about?"

"You're working a lot harder to stay afloat than me or X. I didn't realize you were that much heavier than X, let alone me."

"Huh?" X righted himself to regard Zero for a moment. "Zero... You're sinking." X deadpanned.

"What!? I am not!" Zero scowled at X and splashed water at him.

"Yes you are." Axl frowned as he regarded Zero. "That's really weird. You must have slightly negative buoyancy... But... I don't get it. You shouldn't. I mean... you're not _that_ heavy. I mean; I've had to carry you before. You shouldn't be that heavy."

"I'm not! Quit staring!" Zero growled and tossed water at Axl. "So what, if I've got slightly negative buoyancy. Not like it's gonna kill me." Zero scowled at the two.

X watched him contemplatively for a moment then swam forward and slightly around behind Zero. "Hmm."

Zero twisted to follow him and frowned. "What?"

X reached out and grabbed a handful of Zero's long blonde ponytail and lifted it clear of the water for a moment. "Well, here's your problem." X nodded.

"What?! What are you talking about? What problem?" Zero demanded, snatching his hair out of X's grasp.

"Your hair, Zero. There's so much of it."

"So?!" Zero scowled.

"When it gets wet, it must add some 50 lbs to your weight. No wonder your buoyancy went negative." X nodded with a grin as he swam back around to beside Axl, in front of Zero.

Zero scowled. "Well, so what? So, I sink a little bit. Big deal. Not like a little negative buoyancy is gonna kill me or something."

Axl cocked his head to the side as he watched Zero push his hair back behind his shoulder again. Then a swift grin flashed across Axl's face before he quickly suppressed it. "Hey, guys. I'll be right back. I noticed that surf-shack had some tour brochures. I want to see when the next tour boat goes out to the reef."

"Sure, a tour sounds like fun." X grinned at Axl. "Want me to come along too?"

"Sure, if you want." Axl shrugged before starting to swim back to the beach.

"You coming, Zero? Or should we rent some diving gear to find you when we get back?" X grinned and dodged Zero's swipe at his head.

"I am not sinking!"

X laughed and struck out for the shore, Zero swimming behind him. Zero caught up to him and dunked him underwater as he passed him by. X surged back up, sputtering before heading after Zero and returning the favor. It soon degenerated into a dunking spree.

A few moments, and many dunks, later, Axl's shout from the shore caught their attention. "Hurry up you two!" With a final shove to submerge X, Zero clambered out onto the sandy bottom and waded for the beach, running his hands through his hair to wring it out as he went.

By the time they caught up with Axl, he was already at the surf-shack and looking over their tourist brochures. As X went to look over the brochures himself, Zero glanced around uninterestedly. He was distracted for a few minutes as he noticed a group of young women in swimsuits and bikinis setting up a volleyball net down the beach.

Grinning absently to himself, Zero leaned up against the wall of the surf-shack hut and waited for his friends to finish whatever they were doing. Volleyball sure was looking interesting. 'Maybe they'll need an extra player or two...'

A moment later, Axl tapped X's shoulder to get his attention. X looked up from the brochure he had been reading to see Axl holding a small purchase bag from the shop and a brochure.

"Found the reef tours. We missed the booking time for today's tour, but we can take tomorrow's." Axl held up the brochure as X nodded and set the one he'd been looking at back in its rack.

"Let's go get Zero. We can go buy some normal clothes before heading back to our hotel." X and Axl headed to the side of the surf-shack to find Zero leaning against a wall and watching the beginnings of a volleyball game down the beach. "Hey, Zero, ready to go?"

Zero looked up in surprise. "Already? That was fast." Then he blinked and looked at Axl's bag. "You buy something, kid?"

Axl grinned and shifted the small sack in his grip. "Yup."

"Hey, Zero, I decided I'm going to go on the reef boat tour with Axl tomorrow. Did you want to come too? The brochure says we'll need to book it today to be sure of a spot on the boat and the snorkeling gear."

"Huh? Snorkeling? Nah. Not my thing. Besides, it's silly. We don't even need snorkels. Water in our lungs won't hurt us." Zero shrugged and turned to watch the game again.

"It's okay, Zero. I've solved your buoyancy problem!" Axl grinned brightly.

"Huh?" Zero turned to blink at him in confusion.

Axl nodded. "You don't have to worry a bit about sinking. You won't have any trouble staying afloat while we're at the reef tomorrow. So you don't have to miss out."

"What are you talking about, kid?" Zero looked torn between exasperation and confusion.

"These!" Axl grinned triumphantly and pulled two objects out of the purchase sack he was carrying. "With these you won't have to worry about sinking at all!" Axl grinned as he held up the bright orange arm floaties. Attached to the top of each one was a yellow rubber ducky. "I rented these for you!"

Zero stared, mouth agape.

"Aren't they cute!" Axl enthused with a grin as he squeezed one of the ducks twice.

_Quack. Quack._

Zero twitched.

X twitched.

Axl grinned.

X abruptly burst into laughter before clutching his sides and collapsing to the ground as he continued to howl with laughter. X gasped for breath in between paroxysms of helpless laughter as tears edged the corners of his eyes.

"Grrrrraaaaaaaarrr!!" Zero snarled and lunged forward, hands extended to catch Axl's throat.

"Ack!" Axl yelped and twisted to the side, barely avoiding Zero's tackle. Zero twisted as he landed and came back up with a growl.

"I am _not_ wearing _ducks_!!!" Zero roared as he lunged for Axl again.

"Yeep!" Axl yelped and dropped the floaties. Spinning on his heel, he bolted.

Zero sprinted after him, kicking up sand in their wake. "Get back here, you!!!!"

X gasped for breath as he rolled over onto his side, still laughing too hard to stand up.

"It was just a suggestion!!!" Axl wailed in the distance.

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The End

Owari

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Whoo! Finally. This one took soo long. I had to work around school and work and homework and just bleh.

I know this was supposed to be a funny chapter. But it decided to stick in some serious stuff too. Half of this stuff wasn't in the planned out summary of this chapter I wrote up. The characters just decided to take over and do their own things.

Gah! It's so long! Over 27 pages!! And this was supposed to be the short intro chapter to the rest of the vacation!! It's not short at all!!!

Oh, for future reference. Do not attempt to achieve funny inspiration while eating breakfast. It bodes ill for all involved...

I nearly killed myself when I came up with the idea for this chapter. Seriously.

There I was, minding my own business, eating Cocoa Pebbles and wondering what I could do for this chapter that would be funny, when it hit me. Inspiration of the funny kind.

I got a mental movie of Axl and X noticing Zero was sinking because of all that wet hair. That made me giggle and chuckle. But then, the kicker. Axl presented the duckie floaties to Zero and made one go 'quack quack.'

I got some good distance on the milk. Nearly choked on the pebbles though.

Do not eat and inspirate at the same time! It is a bad thing!

Anyway, tell me what you all think of Axl, X, Zero, Signas, and Alia's personalities. How did you like the humor of this chapter? Next chapter will be more serious though. Be forewarned.

Anyway, review. Please. Make me happy.


	8. AutoRepair Systems

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Rockman X/Megaman X, or any of its characters. I also don't own a basket of dolphins, though I'd like to, and I don't own a radio station that plays nothing but Christmas music. Please don't sue. I have nothing to give you if you do.

**Important:**

This chapter is rated PG-13 and it bumps the whole fic up to that level too. Because I said so. There is violence, death, blood, and cursing in this chapter.

If you feel the rating is too low, please let me know and why. If your reason is valid, I'll change the rating to reflect this.

It's true, I finally updated. Though I really spoiled you people silly with earlier chapters. So, no complaining. Anyway, here we go.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101 - Auto-Repair Systems**

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_We can rebuild him. We have the technology._

…_Unless we want him to stay dead._

A reploid's auto-repair system serves two major purposes. The first and most obvious is to repair and heal injuries. The second is to perform routine maintenance and upkeep of the reploid's systems.

The auto-repair system consists of two major components. The first, and most important, are the nanites. These nano-machines are the devices that affect the actual repairs. Thousands of nanites are present within the body of every reploid. These nanites carry out continuous maintenance and repairs of a reploid's systems.

The main source of mobility for the nanites is through the reploid blood veins and arteries. When not performing maintenance and repairs, the nanites are usually to be found in the reploid's blood. The power source for the nanites comes from the energy conduction fluid in the veins.

The second component of the auto-repair system is the matter-energy converters. The matter-energy converters draw on power from the main power grid to convert into component molecules necessary to effect repairs on a molecular level. The materials the nanites use to effect repairs are drawn from the matter-energy converters. Alternative sources for the building materials are the atomic components circulated throughout the reploid blood that result from eating.

When a reploid is injured, assuming the injury is not immediately fatal, the auto-repair system activates and directs the nanites to the damaged systems for repairs. Assuming the injuries are not severe enough to cause death before repairs are completed, the nanites are capable of eventually restoring full use to a reploid's damaged systems without the need to replace parts through technical surgery. This process can take quite some time, which is why technical surgery is a more efficient and practical way for a reploid to heal from most injuries.

During an emergency power shutdown due to injury, power is diverted from non-essential systems and directed toward keeping the reploid alive as long as possible. This includes diverting power to the auto-repair systems. The longer a reploid survives after a serious injury, the more likely the reploid is to survive due to the auto-repair system. However, because the auto-repair system is dependent on nanite technology, repairs are slow. Severe injuries are often too extensive for nanites to repair before the reploid suffers system failure and eventual death without medical assistance.

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Senior Technical Spotter and Communications Dispatcher Alia sat at her computer console, staring at the screen but barely registering any of the lines of communication codes scrolling across her screen. Her mind was far away from where she sat in the communications center in Hunter HQ. Her thoughts were centered half an ocean away, on a certain green eyed reploid and friends and the island resort hotel she would be joining them at tomorrow. She was planning on packing after she got off her shift. However, she was uncertain about whether to bring the new bikini or the one-piece swimsuit she had picked out the day before.

"Alia… Alia? Hey, Alia!"

"Huh? Wha-?" Alia jerked out of her reverie and turned to the station next to her.

"Welcome back to Earth, Alia." Tanya Readington smiled across at her. Tanya was technical spotter for unit 23.

Alia blushed at that. "Heh, guess I'm a little out of it today."

"I'll say. So, where were you?" Tanya grinned and winked. "Bet I can guess."

Alia flushed pink across her cheeks. "I-"

"Not hard to guess that you're thinking about your vacation tomorrow. Can't blame you really. A whole week of sun, sand, and surf; just what the medic ordered. Not to mention whom you'll be spending it with." Tanya grinned impishly at the slightly shorter woman.

Alia blinked in surprise. "H-how did you know about that?"

"Come on now. For one thing, I'm your roommate. You think I wouldn't notice the happy blur you've been in since day before yesterday? For another, it's all over HQ. I don't think there's anyone who doesn't know."

Alia flushed and looked horrified. "E-everyone knows? B-but how?"

Tanya shrugged, "Who knows. HQ rumor mill is very efficient. But who cares. Don't pay any of those rumormongers any mind. You go and have fun with X and the boys. And I must say, it's about time."

"T-time? What are you talking about? You know we're just friends."

"Oh, of course." Tanya nodded. "Listen, just be sure to take that little pink number you bought the other day."

"Th-the bikini?"

"You won't regret it. Trust me." Tanya winked across at her.

Alia flushed and turned back to her console. "R-really, Tanya. You're as bad as Zero. Reading stuff into everything." Alia shook her head.

Tanya chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment then."

They both turned back to concentrating on monitoring the communication feeds being channeled through their consoles. However, it wasn't long before Alia was once again miles away, as she nervously nibbled on her lower lip. About ten minutes passed, with Tanya peeking out of the corner of her eyes at Alia. Finally, Tanya turned to Alia in exasperation.

"Alia… Ally? Hey, Alia!"

Alia jerked out of her mental trip and turned to face Tanya.

Tanya huffed, "Honestly Alia. How do you expect to get any work done if you're out in la-la land all the time."

Alia flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'll concentrate harder. I can, really. No, really, I can do this."

"Alia." Tanya sighed in exasperation. "Look, there's nothing going on at all right now. The likelihood of something big, that will need your expertise, coming up is practically nil. There's really no need for you to be here. Go, Alia."

"Wh-what? I can't just-"

"Yes, you can. Don't worry. Adam and I can cover for you." Tanya gestured to the spotter sitting on her other side. The red haired reploid grinned and waved at her. "So go, finish packing and get yourself ready for tomorrow. You'll be leaving early, right? So best to get it all out of the way today."

"B-but… I can't just…"

"No sweat, love." Adam grinned across at her from his station. "We can handle this stuff just fine. 'S all routine anyhow. You just concentrate on enjoyin yerself with mister X this week."

Alia flushed. "We're just friends," she hissed across to Adam.

"Sure, sure. Right-o, miss Alia." Adam nodded. "Though, I hear tell mister X has been a mite tense and out-o-sorts lately. Spendin a bit o' time with a sweet lady like yerself is just the ticket for 'im, I'm sure. Jus' you be sure and take good care of 'im this week, miss Alia."

Alia frowned and huffed, "We're just friends, Adam. I don't have to sit here and listen to your insinuations, you know."

"Course not, miss Alia. I'm jus' saying, is all. I'm sure you've got plenty else to do, 'stead of listenin to me."

"As a matter of fact, I do." Alia stood up and set her console to standby mode. "Tanya, if something comes up that needs my attention, my comm. frequency is open. Otherwise, I'll probably be in our quarters."

"Of course, Alia." Tanya smiled and waved as Alia turned and headed out the door. "Good work, Adam." Tanya grinned at her accomplice.

"As always, miss Tanya. It don't take but a little nudge in the proper direction. Ya just got to know which way to push." Adam grinned and leaned back in his chair.

"I bow to your mastery, oh great Adam." Tanya grinned and mock bowed from the waist.

Adam chuckled, "Now, now miss Tanya. Don't want my head to expand. I'll have trouble fitting into my hat."

"I hate to break up your manipulative love-fest, but you should probably contact Alia and call her back here." Corsair leaned over from the far side of Alia's now-empty console station.

"Eh? What for?" Tanya blinked in confusion at the lemur-type reploid.

"Check comm. feed #246-09. We've got a maverick sighting."

Tanya and Adam both rapidly tapped into the communication feed and checked over the report. "This is in Hawaii." Tanya frowned.

"Tracking satellites indicate the closest Hunters are X, Zero and Axl on Oahu. I'm going to contact them and direct them to the location." Corsair began patching into the satellite feed that would give him direct comm. contact with the three Hunters.

"No, no. Don't do that." Tanya protested. "They're off-duty."

"Aw now, give the poor lads a break, mister Corsair." Adam added.

"Besides," Tanya added, "this report just indicates a couple mavericks at most. Sending those three is just overkill. No need for that. Look, I'll alert the 17th. They're scheduled for a routine patrol right now. This will be something for them to do. Lt. Commander Mara can pick out a couple squads to send. They can clean up the situation in no time at all, and on the way home, they can swing by the boys and see how things are going."

"Very well." Corsair grumped. "You should still contact Alia and let her know."

"What and worry her? Come on, Corsair. A couple of mavericks, dumb enough to burst into a marine life center and start shooting randomly, against the 17th unit? No contest. They'll have this wrapped up and handed over to a clean-up crew in less than an hour."

"Still…"

"All right," Tanya sighed. "But not right away. Give her a little time to get her head on straight. Once this is all cleared up and taken care of, then we'll let her know. No need to worry her over nothing."

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"Oh come on, Zero. Please."

"No."

"But you're going to miss out! Come on, what can it hurt?"

"No. Axl, I'm not going snorkeling with you two."

"But, what am I going to tell the captain?" Axl moaned as he slumped back against the wall of the elevator lift. "I already booked for the three of us!"

"Well, that's the captain's problem then, isn't it." Zero grumped and leaned against the corner of the lift.

"Pleeaase." Axl pleaded as he leaned forward and focused his best puppy eyes on Zero.

Zero twitched and then resolutely looked away towards the ceiling. "Nope. Not gonna work this time, kid. I'm going to the beach today, not the reef."

"But you'll be missing out! Come on, please?" Axl tugged incessantly at Zero's T-shirt sleeve. "The reef is going to be so much better than the beach. We can see the beach any day. There's going to be a free lunch too! Barbeque! Please?"

"You know… He's not going to stop until you say 'yes' or we leave." X commented with a small smile from where he leaned casually against the other wall of the lift.

Zero swatted at Axl's hands before commenting. "Good thing you guys are about to leave, then, huh?"

Axl pouted. "How can you say no? This is going to be so much fun! And you're just going to sit on the beach all day and do what?"

"Swim."

"But you can swim on the tour! We even get free use of flippers! And it'll be so much better than at the beach! There's going to be so much to see at the reef! There are so many species of fish and other reef life that have recovered! Don't you want to see _real_ tropical fish and eels and rays and maybe even dolphins?" Axl bounced slightly on his heels, trying to catch Zero's averted eyes.

"No."

"But…"

"I'm going to see if I can join in a volleyball game."

"But you can play volleyball any day. There's even a court at HQ. There aren't any reefs at HQ, you know." Axl scowled up at Zero.

"Sorry, kid. But this reef thing's not for me. You and X will have a great time I'm sure."

"But-" Axl began to protest, but fell silent when X dropped his hand onto the younger reploid's shoulder.

"It's okay, Axl. I'm really looking forward to this. Zero doesn't have to come. Though it would have been nice." X added, pointedly staring at Zero for a moment. Zero shifted uncomfortably under his scrutiny.

Axl sighed and dropped his gaze to the floor. "I know. I was just looking forward to spending the day with both of you guys. The three of us almost never get to hang out together off-base." Axl scuffed his sandal on the floor.

"And whose fault is that? Hmmm?" Zero looked pointedly at X who flushed and glared back.

"So I don't get off-base much. I have a lot of responsibilities, you know. I can't just drop everything and run off every weekend."

"Actually, you could. Well, most weekends, anyway." Axl pointed out.

"Kid's right. Most weekends, barring a major maverick situation, are off-duty periods for the 17th, and that includes you. Instead, you swamp yourself in paperwork, even some that isn't even your responsibility." Zero shook his head in exasperation. "We've really got to work harder to haul you off-base more often."

"Should we make it a bi-monthly event?" Axl queried with a grin.

"At least. More like weekly, probably." Zero grinned.

"You know I'm right here, don't you?" X scowled at the both of them. His response was two cheeky grins flashed his direction. X hmphed and crossed his arms against his chest as he leaned back against the lift wall.

A moment later, the lift doors opened onto the hotel lobby. As the three filed out, Axl turned once more to Zero.

"Please?"

Zero sighed. "No, Axl."

Axl sighed heavily. "All right. Suit yourself. But you're missing out. Come on X, the tour group is waiting." He headed off across the lobby towards the front desk. X grinned and waved 'so long' to Zero before following after. Zero shook his head and grinned before heading for the doors. However, a group of pretty ladies gathered in the lobby caught his eye.

A small gaggle of pretty young women in swimsuits was gathered around the front desk. There were seven ladies in all. Zero slowed in his trek to surreptitiously get a better look. There were three reploid girls and the rest were human. All of them were carrying towels and small tote bags. Zero was just considering introducing himself when Axl and X arrived at the front desk. Zero then stared in surprise as the girls greeted Axl _very_ warmly.

"Ace! There you are!" A pretty brunette exclaimed and hugged Axl.

"Where have you been, Ace?" A longhaired redhead demanded with a pout.

"Yeah, we were starting to get worried you wouldn't make it." A blonde pouted as she hugged the now blushing Axl.

"Ah… You see-" Axl was cut off as a black haired girl squealed in delight.

"Ooh! Is this your friend! He's so cute!" The raven-haired girl latched onto X's arm. X blushed and started to stutter a reply.

"Oh, you're so adorable when you blush like that!" a shorthaired brunette exclaimed as she grabbed a hold of X's other hand. "What's your name?"

"Can't you tell? He's got dark hair, so you _must_ be _Xavier_." A curly haired redhead purred as she sidled up to X's hip.

"But, Ace, where's your other friend? The blond one, Zane? I was so looking forward to meeting him." The longhaired redhead pouted and glanced around expectantly.

"Ah… Well, you see, ladies… Zane-" Axl began, but was abruptly cut off again.

"Was just running a little late." Zero smiled brightly at the ladies from behind Axl. "I had to run back to the room because I forgot my towel." Axl and X both blinked at him in surprise.

The longhaired redhead smiled brightly. "You _must_ be Zane. I'm so glad you could make it." she murmured as she slid her arm in his.

"Wouldn't miss it." Zero grinned back. X and Axl glanced at each other then rolled their eyes.

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A small sardine wriggled enticingly a foot away from the dark crevice in the side of the reef wall. The small fish twitched a little closer before the hidden occupant of the hole darted out into sight and snapped its jaws shut around the body of the sardine.

X grinned as he released the baitfish and pulled his hand sharply away from the moray eel's sharp teeth. The yellow-brown body of the eel slithered further out of the hole as it swallowed the sardine. As it prepared to dart back into its rocky home, X held another dead sardine out to tempt it further out of its hiding place. The eel obliged and snapped up that morsel just as quickly as the previous one.

X's grin widened as he reached out and gently stroked the serpentine form of the eel as it coiled and sidled through the clear blue ocean water. The eel slithered along his arm before whipping around and darting back into its dark crevice. X could just make out its fanged jaws gaping slightly under the overhang of rock.

X sighed slightly, feeling the slightly odd, liquid rush of water escaping his lungs rather than air. That had been his last bait sardine. He'd have to go back to the boat for more before he'd get to feed the other eels or small leopard sharks that lingered around the upper reaches of the reef. However, he still had plenty of bread to feed the less predatory fish with.

X kicked lightly, the swim fins he was wearing propelled him smoothly through the water. He swept along the side of the reef, heading out farther from where the boat's hull cast shadows onto the reef below.

The reef was mainly man-made, rocks and convoluted constructions of rubble concrete rested on the worn down remains of a natural coral reef. However, already the re-introduced colonies of coral species were beginning to thrive and recover. They spread across the rocks and old coral reef base in fantastical shapes and colors. It was very tempting to reach out and touch the complex growths, especially the more impressive ones that towered up from the rocky base in delicate, convoluted forms. X refrained from doing so, however. He knew that not only was the deceptively harmless looking coral sharp enough to cut his synthflesh, but touching it would also do damage to the coral colonies that made up the formations.

X twisted his body in the water to skirt an out-thrust section of the reef and rounded the protrusion to find a swirl of bright silvery fish heading right for him. X pulled up and back kicked slightly to stop his forward movement as the school of brightly flashing bodies swirled and darted around and past him. Many of the small fish darted past close enough that he could feel them slide along his skin or through the floating ends of his hair. X twisted to follow the school as it swept around the edge of the reef he had just rounded and vanished from sight. X grinned as he lightly kicked himself forward again.

In this section of the reef a number of feathery water plants of some kind grew from the rocks and swayed gently in the current. Swirling around and between them and the coral growths were a myriad array of vividly colored fish. Flashes of yellow, orange, red, black, blue, white, and even green caught X's eyes as he lightly stroked at the water to maintain his position about a meter away from the reef formations.

X reached into the bait pouch that was clipped to his swim trunk's waistband and pulled out a small handful of soggy bread chunks. Even as he brought it around to hold out in front of him, it broke apart and left a trail of floating crumbs that slowly settled towards the ocean floor beneath him. The most daring of the fish darted away from the safety of the reef and the plants to snap up the floating bits before swinging back away from X.

Swimming a little closer to the reef, X tempted a school of small yellow fish with black spots to eat out of his hand. A vividly striped yellow and black angelfish darted past his right ear from the reef wall higher up above him and caught a chunk of bread out of his fingers that was rather big for it. As the greedy little fish darted back upward, the bread chunk broke apart and a small horde of other fish darted in to fight over the trailing bits. X laughed, an odd watery sound, as several clown fish darted out of an anemone to chase after breadcrumbs and got into a fight over a large morsel.

Axl was right. This was fun.

Just as the last bit of bread drifted away from his fingers, to be mobbed by increasingly bold fish, X received an internal text message. Having a computer inside your head certainly had its advantages, instant messaging among them. X turned his attention to the message he'd just received from Axl.

_Hey X! You gotta come see this! This is so awesome! Hurry before they leave._

X activated his internal tracking system and locked onto Axl's power signature. He wasn't that far off, though from the readings, he was on the opposite side of the reef wall. X kicked away from the reef bottom and headed up toward the surface. The reef wall was fairly high at this point, but on the other side the sea floor dropped away in a steep slope towards the drop-off into the really deep water. As X swam upward, he also headed towards Axl's signal. So, by the time he reached the top of the reef wall and rose up above it into open water, he was directly across from Axl's position.

As X crested the top of the reef, he had to stop and stare wide-eyed at the scene on this side of the reef. Axl hung suspended in the clear blue water maybe 50 feet out from the reef. He was barely kicking his swim fins, just enough to stay in one place. All around him, sleek dark bodies swept and literally flew through the water. Pale white underbellies flashed as the school of manta rays arced and twisted through the water. Axl looked like he wished he had five extra pairs of eyes as he twisted his head around, trying to look in all directions at once, his green eyes wide and delighted.

"Wow." X gaped at the scene, his own eyes lighting up in surprised awe.

Axl spotted him and grinned, beckoning him to come out. X received another text message.

_Hurry. Come out here, this is so cool! I can just reach out and touch them! They're not scared of people at all!_

X hesitated, he didn't want them to all swim away if he intruded, but he was intrigued. The manta rays seemed just as curious about Axl as he was about them. Kicking lightly, X swam out away from the reef and into the school of rays. The ocean going fliers swirled away from his approach but just as quickly closed in around behind him. X found himself beside Axl in a swirling globe of curious rays. The sleek black forms glided around them and swept close enough that X could feel their wings brush against his skin as the manta rays swept past. Axl grinned as he reached out and trailed his fingers along the wing and back of a ray that swirled around him in a circle.

Most of the manta rays weren't very big. They, along with most of the other species of fish, had been re-introduced to the reef waters. The manta rays had been here long enough to have several generations of growth behind the oldest. Most of the rays seemed to range from around one foot across to just over two feet from wingtip to wingtip. However, X could see some of the rays that were down in deeper water that were larger.

X laughed as he reached out and stroked the wings of a particularly friendly little ray that arced its body and twined around X's waist. Suddenly, most of the smaller rays scattered away from them. X blinked and looked around for the cause. A group of the largest rays were coming up from below them into the cluster of smaller rays. These manta rays were much larger than the others, X could see that the largest had a wingspan of almost four feet.

Axl was looking upwards at some of the smaller rays so didn't notice the large three-foot ray that came up directly beneath him. The ray brought its back up directly under Axl's feet as it glided past him, and the surprised reploid rolled forward in the water and ended up upside down looking back at the ray as it swam away from him before circling back in a wide arc. Axl kicked and curled around to right himself.

X laughed at Axl's surprised face but cut off as another large ray swirled up in front of him and arced its body around his in a tight circle. The ray was close enough that X could feel its wings brushing against his back as it curled around him.

The ray that had rolled Axl swung back around and bumped its head lightly against Axl's back. Axl twisted to face it and the ray curled around his side to glide around and past Axl. It came back around for another pass and bumped Axl lightly with its wings again. This time, Axl reached out on impulse and gently closed his hand around the leading edge of the ray's wing. The ray continued on in its flight and Axl was pulled along for the ride. The ray swung around in wide, lazy spirals around the school of other rays, pulling a grinning Axl along behind it.

Seeing this, X laughed. Carefully, he reached out and got a grip on the ray that was now spiraling around his shoulders. Almost immediately, X was pulled away through the flock of smaller rays as his odd aquatic steed gave the reploid hitchhiker a ride around the reef. A short time later, both X and Axl released their rays and kicked back towards the reef.

X and Axl grinned at each other as the flock of manta rays swept away, further down the reef wall.

_That was so cool!_

X nodded, "You got that right."

_I can't believe Zero wouldn't come see that. I bet he would have loved it._

"You sent him a message too?"

_Yeah, but he said he was busy._

X shrugged, "His loss. Though he probably would have liked that."

Yeah… Oh! Hey, come with me. I found this huge octopus a little bit ago. I bet it's still there. It likes bread. Weird, huh?

X laughed. "Yeah. Lead on. Think it will eat out of my hand? I got an eel to earlier."

Dunno. It wouldn't eat out of mine, but then, it might for you. Animals like you. Let's go find out.

It didn't take long for Axl to lead back to where he'd seen the octopus. However, it wasn't there anymore. As Axl peered around among the rocks for his squishy friend, X looked around the reef and noticed something odd.

"Hey Axl?"

_Hmm?_

"Where are all the fish?"

_Huh?_

Axl swam up to join X as he looked around the reef. As Axl peered around them he too saw that all the fish had vanished from the area.

I don't know… Maybe Zero finally jumped into the water and scared them all away.

Axl grinned over at X. X chuckled and shook his head. "Come on, let's go to the surface. We can ask the tour guides if this is normal behavior."

All right. But if Zero did it, I'm going to throw bread at him… or maybe a sardine.

When the two reached the surface they saw that they were the farthest out from the boat, but still within easy swimming distance. Most of the group of the assorted twenty-five snorkelers was heading toward the boat. From the scents on the air, it seemed as though the barbeque lunch was well on the way to being ready to eat.

"Damn. Guess I don't get to throw stinky fish at him. He's still on the boat." Axl gestured over at the tour boat where Zero was perched on the gunwale.

X nodded then bent forward and exhaled forcefully. The water that had filled his synthetic lungs gushed out of his mouth. As he coughed the last of the salt water out, Axl made a face.

"Blech. How can you stand that? I hate getting water in my lungs. It feels so weird."

"It's not like it'll kill us, you know. I think it's easier like this." X shrugged. "This way, I don't have to keep my mouth tightly shut and remember not to inhale. Besides, it helps to keep me from floating up whenever I stop moving."

"I suppose. But still, it just feels weird; breathing water instead of air. It's thicker, and afterwards, I always feel squishy and waterlogged inside."

"Maybe, but your lungs will dry out pretty quickly once you start breathing air again."

"I guess. I wonder what all that was about anyway." Axl frowned slightly.

"The rays? Or the fish?"

"The fish. I've never heard of all the fish just up and vanishing before. You?"

"Never. But then, I've never been fish watching before. We should probably go back to the boat. I bet the tour guide or the captain will know what happened." X started to swim forward toward the boat.

"All right. And while we're there we can find out what Zero's been up to." Axl kicked after him to catch up.

X pulled up as Axl passed him and peered across the way at Zero and narrowed his eyes slightly. "You know what? I don't think he's even gotten into the water at all. He doesn't even look wet."

"What a spoil-sport. Maybe I'll get to throw stinky fish at him after all." Axl kicked slightly with his fins and raised his upper body out of the water almost a foot before waving his hand wildly over his head. "Hey Zane!"

Zero looked up from where he had been talking to the redheaded swimmer that was leaning out of the water against the side of the boat to look up at him. Zero turned his head around to face the shout and saw X and Axl floating in the water a good ways down the reef from the boat. "Hey you two! Are the fish giving you any trouble?" Zero laughed as he waved back at Axl. "You want me to teach em a lesson?" Zero grinned and mock-flexed his bicep.

Axl laughed and stuck out his tongue at Zero. "What? You know something they don't?"

"Hey!" Zero shouted indignantly. "Anything with fins has got nothing on me!"

Axl just laughed and rolled onto his back in the water. As X pulled up and treaded water beside him, Axl caught X's shoulder and pulled him into a back float along with him. As they both leaned back in the water their swim-finned feet broke the surface of the water. Axl waved his fin lazily at Zero with a grin and pointed at X with his free hand. "That so, huh?"

"Go soak your head, kid!"

"Ha! You first, Zane!" Axl snickered as he righted himself.

"Come on in, Zane! The water's fine!" X grinned and waved at the blonde.

Axl snickered. "He probably just doesn't want the pretty girls to see him sink."

Zero stood up on the gunwale of the boat and shook his fist at them. "For your information, I have a moral duty to keep an eye on these lovely young ladies and make sure they have an enjoyable trip and stay safe!"

X laughed and rolled backwards in the water before righting himself. "From what?"

Axl had swum forward a bit further before righting himself and laughing. "The only lady-killer out here is you Zane! You want to keep them safe, then don't break any of their hearts!"

X laughed and ducked his head under the water for a moment. When he surfaced he pushed his sopping bangs out of his eyes and grinned at Zero's indignant expression.

X never saw it coming. There was no reason to monitor sensor readings for biological life signs, they knew there were fish in the area, and most of the other snorkelers were human.

X blinked in confused surprise as his proximity sensors suddenly screamed in warning at him. He had just started to glance around as he ducked reflexively to avoid whatever some prankster had just chucked at his head when the water practically erupted around him. By the time his processor caught up with events, it was far too late to attempt to dodge.

X caught a confused glimpse of pale skin and rows of jagged white before his feet were struck from below and he found himself lifted clear of the water. He yelped in shocked surprise as he pitched forward and to the side at his sudden loss of balance. X saw Axl just starting to twist around in the water, a look of shock on his face. Then all coherent thought fled X's processors as the sudden pressure around his waist turned rapidly into pain. A shriek of pain ripped across the water and X briefly wondered who else was hurt. Then he realized he was the one screaming. His waist burned with sharp pain as his thoughts filled with warning alarms. The scream cut off as X gagged. His mouth filled with a bittersweet tang and he coughed to clear his throat. Everything seemed so very slow as X watched the arc his blood made as it flew through the air to spatter against the water below him.

"X!" Axl screamed. And everything rushed forward again.

Axl had spun around in the water at the sound of splashing and X's sudden yelp of surprise. What he saw when he completed that turn was enough to shock him into frozen horror as time seemed to slow to a crawl. The largest shark Axl had ever seen, at least a good 13 feet long, was suspended partially out of the water. It's massive blunt-nosed head and upper body rose out of the water, it's jaws gaping wide as its white belly flashed in the afternoon sunlight. It's lips were pulled back, exposing the pale pink of the gums and numerous rows of sharp triangular teeth as it snapped its jaws shut… around X's waist.

For just an instant, X's face held the most dumbfounded expression Axl had ever seen. Then his eyes widened and his mouth opened as an agonized scream ripped the silence of the afternoon apart. X doubled forward as red reploid blood rushed out from the corners of the shark's jaws. His scream cut off abruptly as blood flooded out of his own mouth as his torso convulsed.

Axl lunged forward in the water, screaming X's name. 'This is not happening. This is not happening,' repeated inanely in his mind.

Then everything snapped back into motion as time sped up, far too fast. The shark flexed its body and whipped its head to the side, snapping X almost far enough to strike the water. Then it jerked to a halt and reversed its thrashing. The shriek of shredding metal reached Axl's auditory sensors even as his optics picked out where the shark's teeth dragged downward along X's side, leaving shredded synthflesh to gush blood across the pale white of the shark's belly and gray side.

As Axl closed the distance to the shark, he realized he didn't have any weapons. Cursing himself for not thinking of it sooner, he activated his teleportation system to summon his armor and his Axl Bullets. His proximity alarms went off before the transport began.

Axl threw himself violently to the side, kicking as hard as he could with his swim fins. The water surged with white froth as a second massive shark burst out of the water. The great white scythed its head to the side as its jaws clamped shut and Axl screamed in pain as the teeth shut around his left arm. Teeth ripped through synthflesh and circuits as Axl heard his metal bone shriek in protest as it warped under the multi-ton pressure of the shark's bite.

Water surged around Axl as the shark lashed its tail and swam away from X and the other shark. Blood and coolant left a slick trail along their wake as Axl slammed his fist repeatedly into the blunt nose and jaws that held him. Grey flesh split, spurting blood, and teeth shattered and fell out under his strikes but the shark didn't seem to notice. It's pure black eyes rolled manically around in their sockets as it swam.

'What the hell is wrong with this shark? Nothing biological, especially not an animal, could just shrug off shattered jaws and a brutalized face!'

The crazed shark plunged beneath the waves, dragging Axl along by his bleeding arm.

Zero had frozen in shock, his fist still raised in indignant fury as the water had erupted around X. His logic processor wailed as it struggled to figure out what the hell had just happened. His instinct bashed logic over the head and shouted 'it's an attack!' Even as Zero stiffened and fell into a fighting stance, his internal sensors came on line to scan for a target. The scene finally made sense as he made out the form of the shark rising out of the water beneath X. Then the scream echoed across the water and Zero felt like his internals had just dropped to his feet. He went cold inside as his optics picked up the red rush of blood spilling from the shark's jaws around X. Zero started forward to jump off the boat even as he activated his internal teleporter to summon his armor.

He had not anticipated the reaction of the other vacationers.

Panicked screams and shouts of 'Shark!' broke out from all directions, as suddenly, everyone wanted back on the boat. Even as Zero stepped forward off the gunwale, he suddenly found his arms full of a panicked redhead as the human lunged out of the water and fell into Zero. Off balance already, Zero tumbled backward into the boat as other human and reploid swimmers clambered up onto the boat from every direction. As Zero struggled to get the girl off of him and avoid getting trampled by other panicky people, the proper teleportation coordinates were forced to the side as logic intruded.

Logic said Zero had to get the civilians out of a combat zone.

Zero told logic to go screw itself. X was in trouble.

He pushed the redhead off of his chest and rolled out of the way of an overweight middle-aged human man who tripped on the steps and fell to the deck. As he climbed to his knees, he found his efforts thwarted once again as a hysterical curly haired blonde girl threw herself onto him, sobbing for him to save her.

'Damnit! She's already safe! She's on the boat! I've got to get out there!' Zero struggled to pry her off without hurting her, but damn, she had a good grip, and on his hair too!

The shark continued to thrash back and forth, whipping X around, half out of the water. Every thrash ripped the teeth in farther, shredding synthflesh and arterial tubing, slicing into wires, and scraping against the metal skeleton as X lost reploid blood and coolant in gouts. Pain thundered through X's mind and sensors as he felt the teeth digging deeper with every second. Things grated and shifted inside him that shouldn't be moving at all. Warning messages flashed through his processor; too many to pay attention to any single one. X's mind narrowed through the pain to one simple thought. Get away.

Even as he struggled to force his teleportation system to respond to his commands, X knew he couldn't manage a blind warp jump. His teleportation system was telling him that it wasn't even there anymore. His many armors were beyond his reach. Without armor of some kind, X had no way to activate his weapons systems. His only recourse was to use his innate reploid strength. He desperately tried to force his limbs to respond to his will. His power levels were fluctuating as his generator wailed warnings of a plasma leak. He was losing motor control even as he struggled to force the jaws to open. His power grid was collapsing and motor functions were dying with it. He could barely even bring his fist to bear to strike the jaws and break them. Even then, his blows had no effect on the shark's actions. It didn't even seem to feel them.

Then water was all around him as the shark submerged, dragging him along with it.

Zero finally pried the girl off and shoved her to the side. He surged to his feet with a shout of 'Out of the way!' and sprang back up onto the gunwale as snorkelers scattered from his path. By this time, everyone was on the boat except Axl and X. Zero focused his optics on the scene and activated his targeting zoom feature. He was just in time to see the shark drag X underwater, leaving a rapidly spreading red slick on the surface. Axl was nowhere in sight.

Cursing, Zero leaped off the boat and dove into the water. Ahead, he could just make out the large shark as it continued to thrash through the water, lashing its tail back and forth through a growing cloud of blood. The shark was heading away from the boat, whipping along the reef wall and slamming X repeatedly into the sharp rock and coral formations.

X continued to beat at the shark's snout even as his systems crashed from massive internal damage. By this time, his motor control was so badly damaged that he was unable to do more than bruise the shark's flesh. His arms' servomotors were losing power and starting to fail to respond to his commands as his power grid failed and motion control circuits burned out. X couldn't even bring a fraction of his full strength to bear in his arms to hit the shark or force its jaws open. His plasma fuel cells were leaking where the shark's teeth had punctured the protective casing and X was rapidly losing power. His internal diagnostic systems were already registering his lower half as having been severed, even though it was still attached to him. No power was reaching his body below the waist. Without power, his legs were paralyzed

Then he had to focus his efforts on protecting himself rather than trying to fight back as he was suddenly slammed into the reef wall. The synthflesh of his arms and torso was being shredded against the reef as he tried to protect his head from direct blows against the rocks. X curled forward, desperately trying to shield his unarmored head from the sharp rocks, despite the pain that screamed for him to fight back and escape. He had no weapons he could use, and the shark didn't seem to even feel pain. Most of the servomotors in his arms had burnt out from stress or power loss. He didn't have enough power behind his fists to beat the shark off of him.

Fear and despair welled up inside of him. Was he going to die like this? Not from a maverick, but from a shark? A trumped up fish? His external sensors had died from power failures. He could barely see through the cloud of his own blood. He had no way to know where Axl or Zero were. Would they even be able to reach him before the shark bit through the protective casing around his generator and it went critical? His generator already registered a small plasma leak. Would they even realize he needed saving? He was Rockman X after all. What if they were busy with the civilians? What if they figured he could handle it? It was just a shark after all.

X snarled at himself as he forced the despair away. 'No!' They would come. They would. He just had to hold on till then. He just had to keep fighting till they came. He was X, damnit! He was not going to give up! Not to a shark, not to anything!

The shark veered away from the rocks of the reef and circled around before heading toward the top of the reef and the deeper water on the far side. X resumed his efforts to get free when he realized the shark had stopped battering him against the reef. But even as he again struggled against the shark's grip, the pain washed over him in place of the despair. He shut out the wailing of the warning messages from his systems and focused on forcing his arms to move, to force the shark to release him. The despair almost took him again as his motor control system shut down due to an emergency power conservation shutdown.

X was paralyzed but still conscious of the pain.

Axl activated his internal teleporter and called for his armor. An aura of white light swirled around him and faded just as quickly. He had been just in time. Even as the light of teleportation faded to reveal his navy and red armor the shark slammed him into the side of the reef and dragged him along it. Metal protested as the coral and rock scraped across his armor and sheared away the outer layer of metallic paint. A second longer to summon his armor and that would have been his flesh being shredded.

Axl snarled and triggered the built in holster compartment in his right boot. A section of navy paneling slide outward, revealing a hidden compartment that held his right Axl Bullet pistol. He drew his pistol and took aim at the shark's closest eye. If he remembered correctly, the beast's brain was close to the eyes. One shot should kill the man-eater. As he pulled the trigger the shark whipped its head and slammed Axl's back into the reef, his helmet slammed into a rock and his aim was thrown off. The condensed plasma laser missed the eye and brain and tore open its snout instead. The shot punched out through its lower jaw, the bolt just missing his trapped arm as it ripped apart the jaw joint. The jaws went slack, unable to clamp with one jaw hinge vaporized into bloody mist.

Axl punched the lower jaw wide open and wrenched his arm free. Blood flooded the water around him. He cursed as the warm blood obscured his normal vision and made his thermal optic mode useless. His sensors indicated he was sinking rapidly now that the shark no longer held up his armored weight.

There was a sudden rush of displaced water just above his head that sent his red hair whipping wildly into his immediate vision and across his face. Unable to see his attacker, Axl twisted in the water and fired his thrusters to get clear of the cloud of shark and reploid blood. A short burst was enough to get him to open water and he turned to see what had just happened. A third great white shark had attacked the second.

The two predators turned on each other in a blood driven frenzy. Axl dismissed them from his mind and activated his scanners. Immediately he picked up Zero's energy signature to his left. It was closing quickly on X's signature. But X's power levels were fluctuating and dropping dangerously low. Axl had seen the damage the shark had done to his waist and internals. If it had hit his generator too…

Axl twisted in the water and activated his flight thrusters. He shot forward in the water, heading for X's position. His crumpled, nearly severed left arm trailed uselessly behind him, trailing blood. Axl paid it no mind, blocking out the pain and focusing on more important matters. Like X.

Now that logic had shut up, a white aura of teleportation energy wrapped around Zero and faded away, revealing his red battle armor. Even as Zero drew his Z-saber hilt he activated his emergency acceleration Dash thrusters and shot through the water so quickly his hair snapped behind him.

X desperately tried to force his systems to redirect power to his central motor control processors. However, every attempt came up against the fact that not only were most of his systems going into emergency shutdown but power grid failures had affected his motor control center as well. Even if he could get around the emergency shutdown, power could no longer reach his motion control circuits.

The pain wasn't so bad anymore. Most of the tactile sensors around the wounds had lost power. A dull ache suffused his entire body despite the fact that he was progressively going numb as his body shut down around his mind.

X had gone slack and limp in the shark's jaws. His mouth hung open as blood welled up from within and flowed out in a steady stream. His entire body cavity was filling with blood from severed arteries and ruptured internals. X couldn't feel it though. Just a spreading numbness as his vision began to fade and flicker in and out of focus.

The shark opened its jaws wider and thrust its jaws forward in an effort to swallow more of X. It's teeth came down across his ribcage and the tips bit into his synthflesh. New, sharp pain forced itself onto X's awareness and he cried out weakly as his vocal synthesizer lost power. The shark opened its jaws again to try to swallow more of X's body.

It never closed them again.

Zero had activated his infrared imaging system and was able to detect how deeply into the shark's throat X's legs went. Once he determined this, Zero didn't hesitate.

Without slowing down his Dash systems, Zero activated his Z-saber. The vivid green of the plasma beam illuminated his features as he pulled his lips back in a silent snarl. His Dash boots rocketed him past the shark's pale body as his saber flashed forward in an arc, a trail of green plasma hanging for an instant in its wake. As Zero twisted his body to bring the base of his boots forward to reverse his momentum and turn around, the shark's body slid into two sections as the still slightly twitching tail sank away from the blank-eyed head and torso. There was very little blood released from its body. The high-energy plasma blade had cauterized the arteries as it cut the shark.

Even as the head began to sink, X still clutched in its jaws, Zero had reversed his Dash and reached X. He had to thrust both legs forward, still firing the emergency acceleration thrusters, to come to a stop beside his bleeding friend. The saber deactivated as Zero thrust it back into its holster on his back and killed his Dash thrusters. He reached out and gripped the shark's upper and lower jaws in either hand and forced them open farther. When he'd dragged them far enough apart to ease the teeth out of X's body, Zero locked eyes with the dead shark and snarled silently as his fingers dug into the flesh of the shark's head and the jawbone cracked as his grip crushed it. Zero snapped his arms wide and ripped the jaws apart at the hinges, the rest of the shark's head followed as Zero tore its apart to give him better access to X's limp form.

Zero wrenched his hands out of the bloody remains of the shark's jaws and gently gripped X's body. As he pulled X free from the remains, his sensors detected an approaching energy signature. He spared a glance for Axl as the younger reploid jetted up to them, in full armor, his left arm hanging uselessly, barely attached to his shoulder, a pistol gripped in his right.

Axl's face went pale as he reversed thrust to come to a stop. Zero had to keep a grip on both X's torso and hips as he cradled his body to his chest. He was having trouble holding his body together to keep his mangled internals from spilling out into the water. Even so, he couldn't stop the flood of blood that continued to flow from X's body.

Now that they were stationary, the weight of their armor had them both sinking toward the bottom. Zero looked down at X's face and saw that his eyes were open and focused on his face. X weakly opened his mouth, but nothing escaped except the breath of reploid blood that darkened the water and rose in streamers toward the surface.

"Hang in there, X. Don't you die on us." Zero gripped him closer as he spoke. But even as the words carried through the water, he could see the light in X's eyes fading, the bright green dulling as they lost power.

Panicked, Zero focused his sensors on X. The relief he felt when they reported that X was still alive, but almost completely under emergency power conservation shutdown was mitigated by the alarm that clutched at his chest from the rest of the scan report. X's generator had suffered a plasma leak and most of his plasma fuel reserves had been punctured, resulting in their depletion. His core temperature was also climbing dangerously high.

Then his sensors reported something else just coming into range. Zero's head snapped up and turned to face away from the boat and down the reef. His eyes narrowed. Axl had picked up the signal as well and his face had gone cold and harsh as his eyes narrowed in rage.

"Axl. Take X to the boat, call in an emergency med transport." Axl started and turned to meet Zero's gaze. "He's mine." Zero hissed, a cold rage burning in his blue eyes. Axl nodded and carefully took X from Zero's grip. Cradling his ruined body to his chest with his one good arm, Axl activated his flight thrusters and shot for the surface and the boat. Zero drew his Z-saber but didn't activate it, then he reactivated his Dash boots and shot through the water towards the maverick virus signal his long distance scanners had detected.

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Crash Dolphos was pissed.

How the hell was he supposed to sow random violence and mass panic, without it looking like a maverick attack, if his stupid weapons refused to listen to him? What the hell good were weapons that didn't do what he wanted them to? This was why he hated idiotic organics. They were too stupid to follow orders.

But then, 'that's why they're so easy to control,' his logic processors told him.

Dolphos growled at himself as he flicked the dolphin's tail that trailed from the base of his humanoid spinal column through the water. He hated it when logic turned traitor. Unfortunately, it did that a lot.

'They're supposed to do what I tell them to! Kill the stupid tourists! Not each other!' Dolphos snapped back at logic.

Logic didn't reply. Good thing too, because Dolphos had finally gotten into visual range of the fighting sharks. His special sonar ability had been too weak at his previous distance to break up the fight. But from this close, regaining control over their pitiful blobs of gray matter would be simple.

He hadn't planned to get this close to the boat, but Dolphos wasn't too worried about being detected. The nearest Hunters that might be capable of detecting and recognizing the power signature of the maverick virus were miles away. He'd left them high and dry back on the Big Island when he'd taken his little toys from the marine center.

His plan was flawless. Not even the best logic circuits in the world could possibly connect shark attacks to him or anything maverick. He'd have the stupid humans panicking and running around in circles like headless Hunters at the news of a pack of killer sharks in the resort waters. No reason for Hunters to get involved, after all. Its just sharks, not mavericks.

And it was just so much fun to watch them bleed as his toys tore them to pieces.

He'd have to try to get a whale or two after this. Oh what fun he could have with a whale. Before he'd been infected he had read Moby Dick. Oh what fun he'd have with his own Moby.

'It won't be a white whale, you know.' Logic interrupted.

'Oh shut the hell up and let me gloat.' Dolphos snapped back. He flicked his tail to right himself in the water and activated his sonar pulse system. Using his humanoid arms and legs to tread water he opened his dolphin beaked jaws and emitted a pulse wave of sonar signals. Almost immediately the two bloody sharks broke apart and swam away from each other before circling around toward him, docile as a pair of particularly stupid puppies.

Dolphos scowled as he took stock of the damage each had suffered. Stupid organics. The larger of the two was all but useless now. It's jaw was dislocated and the smaller shark had torn into its body so badly Dolphos would consider himself lucky if he got any more use out of it before it bled to death.

"Damn stupid organics. Can't you do anything right!" Dolphos snarled at them. The sharks floated there, their black eyes staring blankly at him in incomprehension.

'They can't talk you know. Don't expect them to.' Logic replied with infuriating logic.

Dolphos was just about to snap a reply when he saw something that made logic die a screaming death of improbability.

Dash thrusters firing, a figment out of horror stories and the blackest of maverick nightmares shot around a rocky outcropping of the reef and into full view, just as Dolphos' neglected scanners decided to announce his presence.

Crash Dolphos stared in blank incomprehensibility for a single timeless instant as a fully armored red reploid, long blonde hair whipping behind him at his speed through the water, and a stylized golden Z emblazoned on his shoulder guard, charged straight for him. Even without recognizing the famous Hunter, the pointed crests on either side of his red helmet and the expression on his face were enough to convince Dolphos that the devil himself had come for his soul. If he had been at all religious, that is. As it was, Dolphos knew that Hunter Zero was here for his head.

Dolphos shrieked in terror and sent out a sonar command burst to his remaining toys as he turned to flee. The two sharks turned and rushed for Zero, jaws agape to bite and crush.

With a snarl, Zero activated his Z-saber and met the rush head on. His scanners had already informed him that the larger and slightly slower of the sharks had a ruined jaw that couldn't bring its multi-ton bite to bear. No real threat then. He focused on the smaller of the two attackers.

When the smaller shark had closed to within striking distance, Zero kicked his right leg forward and down, the sudden change in thrust shot Zero up above the charging shark as he trailed his saber below him. The shark slammed into the saber's plasma blade as Zero snapped it up and forward. The shark's body split down the center to just past its dorsal fin where the tip of the saber exited. The already dead shark sank away behind Zero as he continued forward after the fleeing maverick. The last of the sharks was already behind him by then and was too badly injured to turn and catch up to him.

"Bastard!" Zero roared as he closed on the desperately fleeing maverick.

Dolphos risked a glance back and knew he'd never outrun the demon's dash system. He cursed his creators for not giving him one too. He flicked his tail and swung around to face the red devil. Dolphos opened his mouth and released a fully powered sonic pulse. The water in front of him rippled and a shock wave rushed forward toward Zero.

Zero didn't slow down as the distortion wave raced through the water towards him. He swung his Z-saber up and across his body as he triggered one of his sword techniques. He shouted the activation command as he swept his saber across his path. "Hadangeki!" A second sonic wave shot forward from his saber's flight arc and crashed into the approaching sonar distortion. Zero's 'Severing Wave Attack' ripped through Dolphos' sonar pulse and Zero shot through right behind it.

Dolphos wailed in despair. But even as he drew his close combat weapon, the anger of his thwarted plan, and by such an improbable cause as Zero himself showing up out of nowhere, rose up within him. The virus fed off of this rage and amplified it as Dolphos activated his trident. The collapsible pole handle extended as the plasma beam prongs activated with a golden glow.

The rage flooded Dolphos, filling him with a sense of power and confidence that overwhelmed any common sense or self-preservation he had remaining to him. Shrieking a challenge, Dolphos flicked his tail and charged forward, trident extended, to meet the devil on his own terms.

Zero was waiting for him.

As the maverick closed, Zero realized that the trident's reach gave the bastard an advantage. However, with his dash thrusters, Zero had the advantage in speed, despite the dolphin maverick's aquatic nature. Unfortunately, Zero had been using his Dash systems a lot in the last few minutes and his internal diagnostics were starting to complain, loudly, about stress to his boot thrusters.

'Don't fail me now. I'll make it quick. Even if he doesn't deserve it.' Zero promised himself as he twisted, swinging his left leg out to the side to propel him to the right of the charging maverick's trident. Dolphos twisted to follow, swinging the trident's blades around to re-orient on Zero as his tail snapped at the water to send his body sweeping away from Zero. Zero abruptly changed direction as he flipped in the water and shot down beneath the trident's swing and curled his body to arc back upwards to close to striking range on the maverick.

Dolphos was off balance and his trident was far out to his left as Zero rushed in for his body, blade drawn back to slash through him. Dolphos swung his legs forward and rapidly beat his tail against the water to propel himself backwards as he opened his mouth and unleashed another sonar pulse wave.

Zero didn't have time to dodge or get off another Hadangeki. The sonar pulse slammed into him and shoved him back, cutting his acceleration down to half. Between the rush of bubbles from his thrusters and the boiling water that vaporized as it got closer to his saber blade, Zero's vision was obscured and he lost track of his opponent's position. But the worst part was that his equilibrium was thrown off as his sensors wailed warnings at him in confusion as phantom forms and obstructions registered on his proximity sensors in all directions. He was unable to lock onto which were real and which were false.

Dolphos shrieked in triumph at Zero's disorientation and rushed in, trident leading to skewer the Hunter. His scream was his undoing. Zero's proximity sensors might have been thrown off, but his hearing was just fine. Zero twisted and countered the trident blades with his saber. He caught the three prongs on his blade and whipped his wrist, twisting the trident out of Dolphos' grip and swinging it away and down toward the ocean floor. Deprived of his weapon, Dolphos' jaws gaped to unleash another sonar pulse wave. He never got the chance.

Zero only needed one hand to wield his Z-saber. While Dolphos had been blinded by a maverick's battle rage, he hadn't noticed Zero's left hand collapse inward as his gauntlet expanded and shifted forward before reforming into an arm buster. While the Z-buster was nowhere near as powerful as X's buster, it was still fully capable of maverick destruction.

As Zero brought his buster barrel up to press against Crash Dolphos' forehead he snarled, "For X," as he fired. Dolphos's entire head vaporized in an explosion of red mist. As the water rushed to fill the abrupt vacuum of space with a 'whump', Zero growled, "Rust in Hell, asshole."

Ignoring the last shark as it fled, bleeding from heavy wounds, as well as the maverick's body, sinking to the reef floor, Zero turned and pushed his thrusters once again as he Dashed for the boat.

His thrusters wailed as the firing mechanisms burned out from overuse just before Zero reached the boat itself. However, his forward momentum was already great enough to take him the last few meters to the side of the boat.

Zero gripped the railing and vaulted over the gunwale onto the deck. The human and civilian reploid snorkelers were clustered to the front of the boat, unwilling to come closer to the growing pool of reploid blood that Axl knelt in.

Axl's head snapped up, the question in his green eyes. Zero nodded curtly as he strode across the deck and dropped to his knees beside X's limp body.

"I contacted HQ. They're locking on as we speak."

Zero nodded and gritted his teeth. X looked even worse in broad daylight than he had in the water. He had nearly been bitten in half, the only thing holding his torso to his hips was the warped metal spinal column and some crumpled shreds from the lightweight internal systems casing. Everything else had been severed or shredded by the serrated teeth of the shark.

Zero's sensors were registering massive power failures, and that most of X's systems were in emergency power conservation shutdown. The plasma generator's output had dropped nearly 80 percent of capacity. X had also lost nearly 75 percent of the coolant and power conduction fluid that made up his blood. That much blood loss normally would have caused a temperature meltdown in the fusion core. In this case, the only thing that kept his generator from going critical was the fact that power output had dropped so far and that most of his systems had gone into emergency shutdown. The plasma fusion core didn't generate as much heat when working at only 20 percent capacity.

Axl's voice quavered as he whispered his next words barely above hearing level, even for a reploid sitting across from him. "Th-the bleeding won't stop. I… I don't know what…" He took a shaky breath and glanced at the worried vacationers on the other end of the boat. "I-I told them to stay back, because of the transporter beam."

A scan of X's systems told Zero what he needed to know. "He's lost too much blood. There aren't enough nanites left in his systems to close all the arteries. We've got to try to physically stop the bleeding. If he loses much more his temperature will go critical, he's already dangerously close."

Axl bit his lower lip but nodded. He moved his one functioning hand towards the wound but hesitated, uncertain where to start. Zero dismissed his armor. He couldn't get his hands into X's body cavity to put pressure on the largest severed arteries while wearing his oversized combat gloves and gauntlets. Zero slid his hands into X's ravaged internal cavity and worked for a second to get a grip on the largest of the arteries he could locate as they continued to drain blood out onto the deck.

Axl whimpered slightly as he pressed his gloved hand against the largest of the tooth punctures across X's chest. Beneath his hand, the oozing reploid blood frothed and bubbled indicating it had punctured a lung. At Zero's sharp glance, Axl hesitated then explained. "I-I think he's still conscious. Somewhat. He… He keeps twitching, especially when I put pressure on the chest wounds."

Zero hissed in a sharp breath and focused on X's face. His green eyes were dull from lack of power as he stared blindly up to the sky. X panted frantically for breath as his synthetic lungs worked to compensate for the loss of most of his coolant fluid by rapidly moving air through his lungs to keep his fusion core temperature at a safe level. With every breath X wheezed up blood even as he gurgled on it during inhalations.

"X. X, stay with us. You hear me. Don't you dare die to some pathetic dumbass. Don't you dare die on us."

"Th-the transporter will lock on in just a moment. We'll have you back at HQ in no time. Just hang in there, X. Lifesaver and the other medics will have you as good as new in no time. Just… Just hang on, X." Axl soothed as he struggled to keep the wavering emotion out of his voice.

Zero knelt over the body of his best friend, counting the seconds as they waited for the emergency medical teleporter to activate and take them directly to HQ. Despite his best efforts to stop the bleeding arteries, X continued to bleed onto the deck. His cardio-pump had shut down to conserve energy, but blood still trickled out of the severed veins in a slow stream. By the time the medical teleporter activated, Zero was covered in X's blood. Axl wasn't much better off.

The familiar, tingling rush of teleportation warp energy wrapped around the three of them. Despite how long it seemed they had waited, it had only been a few minutes since Axl had called in for a medevac. The world dissolved around them and consciousness winked out for an instant, lost in the light, before the light faded and the world solidified around them again. Zero and Axl knelt on either side of X's body where it lay on the medical ward emergency teleportation pad. A small horde of med-techs was gathered at the edges of the pad, waiting for their arrival. None of the medics had known what to expect, but what they got was enough to shock them motionless.

Rockman X lay unresponsive and dying in a pool of his own blood. He barely qualified as being in once piece. His internal casing had been shredded and what remained of his internal circuits, systems, and tubing spilled out in a bloody mess. What remained of his body cavity casing was twisted scrap and his metal spinal column was dented and twisted. Very little of the synthflesh on his torso and arms was undamaged and he was nearly coated in his own blood. Where he wasn't bloody, X was still wet from the ocean water. He was wearing somewhat shredded light blue swim trunks with yellow racing stripes down the sides. Zero and Axl knelt over him trying to stop the bleeding.

Zero, wearing red swim trunks, had his hands buried to the wrists in X's belly cavity. His long blonde hair trailed into the growing pool of blood. Seawater dripped from his bangs and ran down his hair, diluting the blood he knelt in. Zero's chest, belly, hips, and legs were coated in X's blood where he knelt. Even as his upper body dripped seawater onto the pad, his lower body dripped the blood that had splashed from X's gaping wounds.

Axl crouched on X's other side in full armor, his pistol settled in his lap as his right hand pressed against puncture wounds that ran across X's chest. His left arm sagged at an odd angle, reploid blood ran down his arm and off his fingers even as his nanites worked to seal the severed arteries and stop blood flow. His upper arm and part of his shoulder was practically severed from his body. Serrated teeth marks ran all the way around, buried into the crumpled metal skeletal bone.

The shocked medics stared for an instant before Zero noticed them just standing there.

"Damnit! Help him!"

Just like someone had flipped a switch, the scene ceased to be some horrible nightmare and took on the reality of a crisis. The medics jerked into motion as they rushed forward to save X's life.

Medical scanners had been focused on the three from the moment they arrived on the teleporter pad. Now med-techs swarmed the teleporter pad, hauling a stretcher with them. Two different medics worked to ease Zero's hands off of the severed arteries and to clamp the bleeding tubes shut. Two more joined them as they lifted X onto the stretcher. As soon as he was secure, the magnetic levitation emitters activated and lifted the stretcher clear of the floor. Two of the medics hauled it along between them as they sprinted for the nearest operating room. Four other medical technicians, specifically four technical surgeons, raced alongside it while two more, including Lifesaver, held the OR doors wide for the stretcher.

Most of the other med-techs scattered around the med ward, rushing to prepare various parts and tools for the surgeons. Two converged on Axl and pulled him along with them off the pad toward another OR.

Axl shrugged them off and pulled back. "I'm fine! Really. X is the one that needs your help. Don't just stand there." He pointed to the now closed doors of the OR down the ward from the teleporter pad.

"Axl, please calm down. Commander X is in good hands," the shorter of the two human medics soothed and he tried to guide Axl toward the OR that was being prepped for his arm repairs. "Any more medics in there with him and we'd be more of a hindrance than a help."

"Too many medics in one OR and we start tripping over each other," the other medic, a slender, curly haired man added.

"Go on, kid. They're right. No sense in you standing around bleeding to death while we wait for news on X." Zero spoke up as he stepped down off the pad. Axl hesitated and glanced at the closed OR doors. "If I hear anything, I'll let you know, even if the medics give me the boot afterwards." Axl nodded at that reassurance and followed the two medics into the second OR.

Zero was left standing in a figurative eye of the storm as the med ward swarmed with activity around him. He stood uncertainly for an instant beside the still bloody pad. Then the main med ward doors hissed open and Alia rushed in, closely followed by Signas. Both had that air about them that said they'd just slowed down from a run.

Signas immediately focused on Zero as Alia continued to scan the room for the missing other two. Signas strode forward through the organized chaos that was the medical ward. "Zero! What the hell is going on?" Signas demanded as he glanced around for the others. "Where are X and Axl? Why'd you call in a medevac…?" Signas broke off abruptly as he suddenly realized just what Zero's lower half was coated in. "Great Light! Zero, what…? Never mind. Medic!" He turned to the room at large and snagged the first med tech that ran by. "What's wrong with you? Why isn't anyone helping Zero? He's been hurt, damnit!"

"S-sir…" The hapless medic stammered in surprise.

"Signas, calm down. I'm fine." Zero strode forward. "See, it's not mine."

Signas paused in his reprimand of the poor medic and blinked at Zero. "What? Then who the hell bled all over you! Damnit Zero, this was supposed to be a relaxing vacation. It figures you'd find some mavericks and get into a brawl with them."

Alia's voice quavered slightly as she turned back to Zero from her search of the medical ward. "Z-Zero… Where's Axl? Wh-Where's X?"

Zero's face fell and he glanced away towards the OR rooms. "They're in the OR right now."

"Th-the blood. It-it's theirs?" Alia whispered softly, her eyes going wide.

Zero couldn't meet her gaze as he shook his head slightly. "No… Just X."

Alia sucked in a shocked breath as her face went pale.

"What happened?" Signas demanded.

Zero sighed and ran his hand through his hair, then stopped short when he remembered that his hand was covered in X's blood. "Damn," he growled as he realized he'd just added red streaks in his blonde hair from his temple to his shoulder. Zero shook his head. "Shit, Signas. That's what happened. Crap like this isn't supposed to happen. The damn prick probably didn't even know it was X."

"Wh-what happened to X?" Alia's voice came out in a strained whisper as she locked eyes with Zero, a desperate question left unspoken.

Zero broke eye contact. "A maverick. Some stupid dolphin-type maverick with sharks as pets."

"Sharks?" Signas asked, the confusion evident in his voice.

"Sharks," Zero growled. "Sharks that decided reploids look pretty tasty."

"Look pretty… tasty…" Alia cut off with a horrified look in her eyes. "Th-they… ate them..."

Zero hissed and caught her eyes. "Tried, Alia. Tried. They're both still alive. We got X out of there. He'll be all right. He will." Zero said forcefully as he reached out to grip her shoulder reassuringly. He pulled back at the last second when he remembered his hand was still bloody. Zero shook his head. "No fish is going to kill him. X is too strong to die from this."

"The maverick?" Signas asked, the undertones of menace rumbling beneath his query.

"Scrap," Zero replied with a predatory look of satisfaction on his face.

Signas nodded once, firmly, then turned to a still pale and slightly shaky looking Alia. "Alia?"

Alia jerked and straightened up as she faced her commanding officer. "Sir?"

Signas searched her face carefully before gently inquiring, "Will you be able to continue working today?"

"Y-yes. Of course, Signas, sir." Alia nodded as she forced herself to stand straight.

"Alia…" Zero started but was cut off.

"I'll be all right. I can still work, sir." Alia addressed Signas but her eyes flicked to Zero's face.

"Very well. Zero, give Alia the coordinates of the attack. Alia, I want you to send a clean-up detail. They're to retrieve whatever remains of the maverick and secure the sharks as well."

"There were only three. Two are dead and the last had fatal wounds." Zero spoke up.

"The bodies then. We need to know how the maverick was controlling biological life to coordinate an attack on reploids. Sharks have never attacked reploids before. Also, send someone to pick up Zero, Axl, and X's gear from their hotel, preferably from the 17th or 0th. Sorry Zero, but your vacation's been cut short."

Zero nodded as he sent a burst transmission, containing the attack coordinates, to Alia. "Understood."

"Yes, sir," Alia nodded briskly to Signas before glancing once more at the closed OR doors before heading back out the main ward doors. The two watched her go. Once the doors closed behind her, Signas turned to regard Zero.

"Will X make it? And how badly off is Axl?"

Zero sighed and turned away from Signas for a moment. He reached up to run his hand nervously through his hair before stopping himself with a growl of distaste. He turned back to Signas and shook his head. "Axl's arm's messed up. Might need it replaced. X… Damn, but that maverick died too easy. I don't know, Signas. I just don't know. He's in a bad way. If… If he doesn't…" Zero trailed off as he turned away his bangs overshadowing his features. "I'm not leaving the med ward till I hear, Signas. Don't ask me to."

"I wouldn't." Signas replied. He turned to look at the OR doors before reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Damnit, but he was supposed to have fun this week."

"I know."

Signas sighed and glanced back to Zero. "You should still get cleaned up Zero. There're showers in the private patient recovery rooms. You don't want that drying on you."

Zero glanced down at himself and then nodded. "Right. Are you staying here for now?"

"At least until you come back from the showers."

Zero nodded and pointed to OR-3. "Axl's in that one. If you hear anything about X while I'm gone, anything at all. Let him know."

Signas nodded. "I'll expect the same from the both of you. I can't spend the rest of the day in here waiting, but I still want to hear as soon as there's anything to know."

"You got it." Zero nodded to Signas before heading down the ward to the patient recovery wing where he could find a shower to rinse the blood and salt water off. Signas watched him go before snagging a seat on a bench against the wall and taking up watch on the two closed OR doors.

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The End

Owari

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Umm…

Don't kill me?

If you do, you'll never know what comes next! And you'll never get to read any of the sequels!!

Now, I know what you're thinking.

"How the hell did X get his shiny metal hiney owned by a shark!"

Well, you see… Plot Hole!

Just kidding. There is a reason. Really there is. Really.

See, X didn't have a basket of dolphins to save him like that guy in New Zealand did. Did you hear about that? If not, I'll fill you in, just cuz it's so cool.

This guy in New Zealand went swimming with some of his family and he and (I think) his daughter took one of the currents out into water away from the beach. There were two lifeguards on duty at the time, a senior one and a trainee-type person.

When the man and his daughter were out swimming, suddenly a whole pod of dolphins surfaced all around them. The reach-out-and-touch sort of all around. The guy thought it was strange. Even though dolphins do frequent the beach, they usually just ride waves with body boarders and stay a few meters distant. These were all around the man and his daughter. There were even dolphins swimming beneath them. It was like the two were inside a basket of dolphins.

Then the man saw this one particularly big dolphin charge right at them through the water, like it was going to attack or something. But it dove under the water beneath them. The man turned around to try and see where it would come up. Right behind him, he saw this big mass of pale gray.

It was a great white shark, at least ten feet long. It had been coming up behind him and his daughter to attack. The big dolphin had been charging the shark to force it to back off. The dolphins closed in around the two swimmers and kept the shark at a distance from them so it couldn't attack.

Somehow the lifeguards were alerted to the swimmers in the horde of dolphins, but not about the shark, and took a boat out. One jumped in and then saw the shark. While he scrambled to get back in the boat, the other lifeguard jumped into the water. By the time both lifeguards got back out of the water and into the boat, the dolphins had widened their 'basket' formation to give the swimmers some room to swim to the boat to get to safety.

Isn't that just the coolest! Poor X needs some dolphin friends next time he goes swimming.

Anyway, yeah there is a real reason for the shark munching X. Really there is. Here it is.

I needed a way to have X get himself trashed up a bit to deal with the auto-repair systems. But there's only so many things that can do damage to a reploid like X. Why X? Because he's my favorite.

An uber-maverick boss like Sigma.

An accident involving heavy machinery or something just plain heavy.

A surprise attack of some kind.

Since I don't want to get into uber evil guys during this fic, option #1 is out. I couldn't figure out a way to whump X with heavy machinery without flattening him into an X-waffle, so option #2 is out. That leaves #3.

However, there are only three things that could surprise attack someone. A human, a maverick/reploid, or an animal. Humans wouldn't attack X, at least not the sane ones. X's scanners would detect a maverick that came into range, unless its something like a sniper attack or a bombing, in which case, X would die almost instantly rather than get really messed up. So that leaves animal.

Only so many animals can actually do serious damage. That list narrows even more when we're dealing with damage done to someone made of metal. It just so happens that it's a proven fact that sharks can exert up to, and possibly exceeding, 3 tons of pressure per square centimeter on the tips of their teeth when biting down. That's enough to really shred some metal. So X becomes the first poor reploid to suffer from a shark attack.

Sharks, in my fiction universe, don't recognize reploids as living things that could be food. They register as not-food to a shark's sensory organs. So sharks generally don't try to eat reploids.

Now, as for X getting munched so badly. Well, he had no armor or protective bodysuit on. And from what I figure, the reploid may have built in weapons systems, but the actual firing mechanism and energy weapon part of arm busters is in the armor gauntlet. So no armor no X-buster. And without armor, reploids have a lot of soft and squishy and easily shredded synthflesh that will bleed a lot when munched by sharks. The most heavy-duty parts of a reploid's body, outside of armor, are the skeleton and the protective casing around the plasma fusion generator core. The other metal alloy casings for internal systems are tough, but thin and flexible to allow free range of body movement. This makes them shreddable too.

Toss in a doofy maverick to give the sharks commands and get beat down by Vengeance Demon Zero and we have a plot!

Anyway, I hope you liked this. I'm a bit uncertain on a few character development moments. Let me know if anything seems a bit fishy to you.

The next chapter will be a lot shorter and come almost directly after this one. Don't know when I'll post it. But probably soon, Fall quarter classes are wrapping up so I've got all Christmas vacation to putter around with my stories.

You'll also get a taste of Christmas cheer. Or something resembling it. I've got a plan for an X Christmas story. Expect lots of holiday mush.

Christmas Cheer has devoured my brain since the weekend before Thanksgiving!

I found a radio station that started playing nothing but Christmas music since the Friday before Thanksgiving Day. Whatever they were thinking when that change was authorized… It worked because my brain is now Holiday mush.

Oh well.

Till next time!


	9. Respiratory System

**Disclaimer:**

I do not now nor have ever owned Rockman / Megaman X or any of its characters, including but not limited to X, Zero, Axl, Alia, Signas, and Lifesaver. Please don't sue, I'm broke and will just declare bankruptcy if you do.

**Important:**

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I'm afraid this will have to suffice for my gift to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers. I hope you enjoy it.

This chapter is rated PG because I say so, and because Zero isn't really _totally_ nude…

Umm… yeah.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Respiratory System**

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_And so, breathe…_

…_Just Breathe._

The respiratory system serves as a secondary coolant system. The primary coolant system, the circulatory system, works in conjunction with the reploid's lungs to maintain safe temperatures.

The respiratory system consists of synthetic lungs that act as bellows. The lungs pump air in and out of the reploid's body, through the mouth and nose. The lungs are located above and to either side of the main generator core. The close proximity allows the respiration process to diffuse the high temperatures generated by the core into the air the reploid exhales.

The circulatory system also serves to disperse and reduce the core temperature. The liquid coolant is pumped throughout the body and past the core. Heat is transferred to the coolant and then dispersed throughout the circulatory system. The arteries and veins travel to the extremities and beneath the outer layers of synthflesh on the body and heat is diffused through the synthflesh and skin. This process causes the reploid to give off body heat in a similar fashion to humans.

The cardio-pump is located in the ribcage, usually between the two synthetic lungs. Because of its location, coolant flows past the lungs as it travels in and out of the pump. Heat is also transferred from the coolant fluid and into the air entering and exiting the lungs. This causes a reploid's exhalations to be noticeably warmer than the surrounding air temperature.

Because a reploid does not require oxygen to survive, the way a human does, they do not have to breathe air to survive. While breathing helps to maintain safe core system temperatures, it is not necessary as long as the cardio-pump and circulatory system is operational. Because of this, reploids can operate in atmospheric conditions that would prove fatal to humans and other organic life forms. It is also possible for a reploid to breathe liquid as easily as gaseous atmospheres. For a reploid, breathing water serves the same coolant purposes as breathing air.

Plasma particle collectors are also located within the lungs. These serve to extract high-energy plasma from the air, which is stored in the fuel cells and used to power the fusion core.

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The warm liquid ran down from the crown of his head, over his bare shoulders and down his back. The water spilled over the waistband of his swim trunks and ran down his legs before joining the continuous whorl that centered on the steel drain set in the floor.

Zero leaned forward and braced his hands against the wall of the shower, his eyes closed as water ran in rivulets down his face. His armor, long since rinsed free of blood, sat outside the shower door on the tiled bathroom floor.

Zero tilted his head forward as water dripped from his bangs. Streams of water ran down the thick, sopping plaits of his hair that clung to his back and sides before dripping from the tips of his hair near his calves. Zero sighed and tilted his head to the side to make sure the warm jets of water rinsed the last of the bloody streaks from his hair.

He opened his eyes and watched as the water, tinged pink and streaked with darker red, swirled about his feet before vanishing down the drain. Zero closed his eyes and shivered as he clenched his hands into fists, still braced against the wall.

It had been so close today, far too close. Just a few inches further up on X's chest and his generator would have ruptured. An inch, maybe two, between life and death. A life that still hung in the balance.

Zero clenched his teeth and slammed his fist into the wall. Spider web cracks and fractures snaked out from the shallow crater his fist left in the tile shower wall. So many close calls, too many to bother counting anymore. But this one was different. This one was so… so… asinine. A shark. Of all things that had ever been considered to possibly be the end of X, it was a shark that had perhaps come the closest, next to Sigma himself. Granted, a maverick was behind it, but still. Mavericks don't generally use sharks, or any animals or other organic life forms, for that matter, in their attacks. This was something no one had ever expected.

Out of all three of them, Zero had always expected he would be the first to end up dead, not X or Axl. Zero was always the one who rushed headfirst into dangerous situations. Zero was the one most often in close combat. When your main weapon is a saber, close combat situations are the norm. Both X and Axl used distance weapons more often than not. They needed room to maneuver to be most effective in a fight. Zero was more used to hand to hand combat and close quarters. It was Zero's job to slip in close and take the enemy down with swift and overwhelming force.

When X fought, his actions were based on strategy, and required observation and analysis of the enemy's tactics and skills in order to best determine how to take the maverick down. Zero fought with strength and speed and more than just a little skill. That's why he had the reputation of a demonic berserker once he'd encountered the enemy. Axl's style was an interesting mix of their styles with a touch of his own. Axl had learned from X to analyze and out-think the enemy, but he also took risks if he felt he could pull it off. He wasn't a berserker, but he was very much the sneak. Axl used his Copy Shot ability, as well as a natural talent for misdirection to lure the enemy into situations where he could strike and use the maverick's own abilities or tactics against them.

Out of all three of them, Axl took the most dangerous risks, but he always had X and Zero ready to back him up or bail him out if he got in over his head. He was their protégé, after all… They looked out for him like a little brother. Though X sometimes seemed more a mother hen than a big brother. They had more experience, in life and war, than Axl did. And Zero had the most experience as a warrior.

X might be the oldest, but when it came to fighting, Zero was the most experienced. As such, he had taken X under his wing when X had first joined the Hunters. And they had both taken Axl into hand to make sure he would be the best he could be, so that he would be able to stay alive, so that he would be prepared for whatever may come. As such, Zero knew that both he and X felt responsible for Axl. But more than that, Zero felt responsible for X as well. X had been his first protégé, and despite X having become stronger than Zero could ever have imagined when they had first met, Zero still felt the need to look out for him, as a mentor, a friend, and as a brother.

And what kind of a mentor… a friend… a big brother… was he to have not been there when X and Axl had needed him? Instead, he'd been on the boat, flirting with girls he'd probably never see again, not that he'd mind that much. Not that far away, distance-wise, from X and Axl, but practically a life away. A life that was currently pouring down a shower drain… A life that lay unresponsive and fading on an operating table… A life that meant more to Zero than a million of those pretty women that he flirted with, but cared little for, besides the passing of time and enjoyment of the moment.

If he hadn't been concerned with keeping up his reputation, with enjoying his status of desirable male… with trying to forget… with trying to move on… He could have been there for X, for Axl. He should have been there.

How much damage would X have been spared if he had been there, right beside him? The shark might have gone for Zero instead. Zero was taller than X, the shark couldn't have bitten him as far up as it had X. Zero would have been in less danger if he had been the target, right?

Either way, one of them would have been right there to save the other, to save Axl. It hadn't been Axl's fault, he'd tried, but there had been two sharks right there. If Zero had been with them, if he had been there when they needed him, he could have taken out both of the sharks before the third showed up. The third shark was the smallest; it couldn't have kept any one of them away from saving the other two. He should have been there, to save them immediately, before serious damage could have been done… before one of them was dying…

If Zero had only been there, right there, beside them, would X still be in the OR, dying?

Would Zero be here, washing part of his best friend, his little brother, off of him?

Zero cursed under his breath. Inhaling deeply to center himself and get a hold on his emotions, he slowly straightened up. As he pulled his fist away from the wall he winced and glanced down at his knuckles. The synthflesh was bruised and cut in several places from the sharp edges of tile shards, which now fell from the crater in the wall where he'd punched it. It was nothing serious, but it stung as his blood oozed up from the slices and was washed away in the rush of water from the showerhead.

Zero sighed and closed his eyes, letting his hands drop to his sides. This was getting him nowhere. If he stayed in here much longer, he wouldn't be surprised if his skin wrinkled up like humans did when they stayed too long in water. There wasn't any more blood to wash off except his own, even if he could still swear he felt the phantom slickness sliding down his legs and belly and slipping between his fingers. Zero shivered and shook his head to clear away those thoughts. He then reached out and shut off the water before running his uninjured hand through his hair to wring out the water. He pushed open the door and stepped out past his piled armor. The chill of the tile bit into his feet, but he paid it no attention as he snagged a towel and proceeded to dry himself and his swim trunks off. It was time to face the world again.

Lacking anything else, and not wanting to sit around in the med ward in nothing but shorts, Zero pulled on his black and gray bodysuit. The rest of his armor was still dripping wet, so Zero left it to dry on the floor of the bathroom. Barefoot, damp hair pulled back in a loose ponytail, Zero headed out of the patient recovery room and returned to the main med ward.

Signas was waiting where Zero had left him. The only difference was that he had acquired a computer data pad from somewhere and was going over reports of some kind. Zero slid onto the bench beside him. Signas glanced up and nodded at Zero's arrival.

"Any word?"

"Nothing yet." Signas glanced over at Zero and found his eyes drawn to where a slender trickle of blood ran down Zero's fingers. "Thought you were going to wash it off?"

Zero glanced across at Signas and followed his gaze to his knuckles. "That's mine."

"…Should I call a repair crew down for the recovery room you used?"

"Not yet. My armor's still there. Take it out of my pay, would you."

"I believe we have a portion of the budget set aside for renovations to expand the recovery ward. One extra room won't be noticed."

Zero nodded his thanks as Signas gave him a slight smile. "Has Alia reported back in with news on the recovery team?"

"Not yet." Signas sighed. "I should go check up on her. But I don't want to intrude. Under normal circumstances, I'd send X to talk to her and make sure she was handling this well. Of course, that's not possible…"

Zero sighed. "I know. As soon as I know, one way or another, I'll take the news to her in person." Zero gritted his teeth. "She should have stayed, she didn't need to go back to work. I know she's worried."

"I know. Her shift was supposed to end early today, so she could pack to join you in Hawaii. Knowing her, she's going to keep working till she's exhausted."

"If she had stayed… At least she wouldn't have to worry alone." Zero sighed and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

Signas sighed. "She can be quite stubborn when she tries. Nearly as bad as you and X." Zero snorted. Signas sighed heavily. "I think she blames herself, in part."

Zero snapped his head up to stare at Signas in surprise. "What are you talking about?"

"The 3rd and 4th squads of the 17th were sent to Hawaii earlier today to take care of a minor maverick disturbance at a marine life center. Alia wasn't in the communications center to field the call. Tanya Readington handled the alert instead. No one alerted you three. You were on vacation. Hell, no one expected any of the bastards to escape, or head to Oahu, let alone attack swimmers with sharks, of all things. From what I gathered, Alia skipped out a little early to pack. She probably blames herself for that maverick getting away and attacking you three."

"That's absurd!"

"I know. Nothing she could have done would have changed what happened. Tanya is a very thorough and skilled technical spotter. There's nothing she didn't do that Alia would have. Besides, aside from Alia being spotter for the 17th, there's no reason the senior comm. dispatcher would have been consulted or needed for such a deployment. And if she had been there, she would have given the go-ahead for Tanya's decision anyway. She has no reason to blame herself."

"Damn straight! She wasn't even there. There was nothing she could have done… It's not her fault at all…" Zero scowled as he turned away from Signas to glare at the floor between his bare feet.

"Zero…" Signas spoke in a quiet, but commanding tone. "This is _not_ your fault."

Zero stiffened slightly but didn't look up. "Never said it was…"

"You don't need to say it. I can see it, and hear it, just fine. This is not your fault, Zero. I don't blame you. Alia doesn't blame you. Axl doesn't blame you. X most _definitely_ would never blame you. Do not blame yourself. No one else would even think of trying to place the blame on you."

Zero growled and straightened up, slamming his fist into the bench beside him. "Damnit, I should have been there!" he snarled. "I should have! I could have been! But I wasn't there…"

"Zero stop."

"If I had been closer, I could have stopped it. I could have! X wouldn't be in there right now." Zero gestured imperatively at the door to the OR across the room. "I-should-have-been-there," Zero growled from between clenched teeth.

"Zero, stop telling yourself that. You _were_ there. You _did_ save X. No one could ever expect you to have done anything more. There's nothing that indicates you could have changed things by being a few yards closer. From what I've read up on about shark attacks, most of the damage would have been done in seconds. You couldn't have changed that, even if you were right beside him."

"You don't know that." Zero ground out.

"And you don't know otherwise, either. You can't beat yourself up over could-have-beens or should-have-beens. If we did that, the world would be a much sorrier place. If we all dwelt on what might have been, nothing would ever be done to change the way things are now for the better. You and I can play the might-have-been game well into the next century and still not exhaust our topics. And we wouldn't have gotten anything done to make things any better. Once we start up, where will we stop? We could go on and on about what might have been to change what happened today. What if you _had_ been there? What if that shark had attacked a _human_ instead? What if that maverick had chosen an _entirely different group_ to attack? What if the maverick had been stopped by the 17th before he could escape? All those could have happened to change what happened to X. But are we going to blame the 17th for not noticing that one maverick slipping away, instead of attacking like a good-little-maverick should, while they were busy stopping other mavericks and helping the wounded civilians? And why stop there? What if Sigma had never gone psychotic in the first place and infected hundreds of others with the virus? What if the maverick virus had never existed? Or how about this one, what if Thomas Light had never created X in the first place? That would have certainly prevented him from being attacked by a shark today. Should we blame Light then?"

"Of course not!"

"Glad to see you agree." A soft beeping began emanating from the data pad. Signas ignored it for the moment. "Zero, you're no more to blame than Light or the 17th are." The incessant beeping continued, Signas' eyebrow twitched in irritation. "The only blame lies firmly on the," Signas gave in and glanced down at the data pad in his hands and paused before cocking an eyebrow, "apparently headless shoulders of the maverick."

Zero glanced up and raised an eyebrow questioningly at Signas.

"Just got the recovery team's preliminary report in. All things considered, I'd expected there to be less to recover."

"I had other, more important concerns than reducing the bastard to shredded scrap," Zero grunted.

Signas nodded. "I agree. X's life _is_ more important than beating a dead dolphin. Which is another reason no one could possibly blame you for this. If you had indulged, which you can't deny you have been known to do in the past, X might have bled to death before he got here. The fact that you helped stop further bleeding instead of focusing on your anger at the maverick is further proof that you did everything anyone could have to save X. No one could have done anything more, not even you Zero."

Zero slumped his shoulders and ground his fists into the surface of the bench. "I still feel I should have been able to save him…"

"You did save him Zero. X is not dead yet. Don't you give up on him."

Zero snapped his head up as though slapped. "I wasn't! I know that! X is way too tough to let it end like this!"

Signas nodded. "Good. Now cut that out before I call a med tech over here to bandage your hand."

Zero started and glanced down at his bleeding hand. Punching the bench repeatedly and grinding his knuckles into it hadn't helped any. The cuts had split wider and the bleeding had increased. Zero cursed and pulled his hand up to his lap and held it there determinedly with his other hand. He'd been so preoccupied he hadn't even noticed the pain.

"Need a medic?"

"No." Zero grunted. "It'll be fine by the end of the day."

Signas nodded. "Don't let any of the medics see that hand then, they don't need to be worrying over all three of you. Even if there is no such thing as bench poisoning."

Zero snorted. "What's the prelim report say?"

"Nothing you probably already don't know. Two shark bodies, one badly wounded shark, a boatful of panicked and frantic tourists, and one headless dolphin maverick body. I don't suppose you know where the head might have ended up?"

"Used the Z-buster."

"Point blank?" Zero grunted affirmative. "Well, won't have to worry about it missing then. Would have been nice to have access to his memory banks. But it's not a big loss." Signas' voice then took on a hard edge, "Besides, the bastard deserved it."

"Hn." Zero nodded.

"Aside from that," Signas sighed, "the sharks were from a breeding program. The recovery team captured that last one alive. Apparently it'll be moved back to the marine center. If it survives, I suppose it'll be the only thing that's ever survived trying to kill the three of you."

Zero snorted. "Great, an infamous shark celebrity. I can just see the news feed headlines now."

"Well, at least we know it won't be leading any maverick revolts."

"I dunno. Some mavericks are dumb enough to take orders from a shark, especially one that survived the _Wrath of Zero_. If it did, at least it would be the easiest Maverick Uprising we've ever had to deal with."

"There is that." Signas smiled slightly before glancing back at the data pad and sighing heavily. Zero raised an eyebrow at him. Signas shook his head. "I've got to go. I'm supposed to be in a teleconference with some of the Global U.N. council members in," he paused to check his internal chronometer and scowled, "fifteen minutes." Signas sighed and shook his head. "Sometimes, Zero… Sometimes I just want to chuck all this bureaucratic nonsense out the nearest window. They're just going to sit there and yak at me for the next few hours and shift blame for everything under the sun around onto each other to cover their own asses. Then we'll dance around the real issues for a few more hours before actually getting to the damn point of demanding this meeting."

"And you wonder why I don't want the job?"

Signas snorted. "I'm beginning to agree with you."

"Ah well," Zero shrugged, "what can you expect from such stuffed suits? Better go put on your waltzing shoes, my friend." Zero clapped his hand lightly on Signas' armored shoulder. At Signas' meaningful glance, Zero nodded. "Don't worry, I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything."

Signas nodded. "See you later, then." Zero waved as Signas headed out of the med ward before returning his gaze to the OR and his vigil.

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It was late. The sun had long since set outside Maverick Hunter Head Quarters and the waiting continued. Zero had a new companion-in-vigil though. Axl had been released from the OR sometime around 5pm local time.

The redhead sat beside Zero in the spot Signas had vacated hours earlier. Someone had given him a tank top to go with his swim shorts. His left upper arm and shoulder were heavily bandaged in white gauze. It would take a day or two for the new synthflesh grafts to bond completely with the rest of his synthflesh. The bandaging would keep the grafts in place so that they would heal seamlessly. Axl had ended up having almost his entire shoulder replaced, including his upper arm bone. The med techs could not fully repair the original metal bone because it was too badly warped. Axl was currently getting used to his new joints, even though he wasn't supposed to put much strain on his shoulder or arm until he'd had a day or two to heal and integrate the new systems.

Zero had sent messages to Signas and Alia informing them that Axl had been released and would make a full recovery. They still had not received word on X. Zero was waiting for news on X before he went to find Alia and bring her back here to see him.

Zero and Axl sat in companionable silence. Zero was leaning back against the wall and Axl was leaning forward to brace his chin in his right hand. They both had been asked, and then ordered, and then reprimanded, repeatedly, to either go lay down in a recovery room (for Axl) or to move their vigil to the designated waiting room. They had both refused. Axl and Zero had both come to silent agreement that they were not budging until they knew how X was.

The longer X spent in the OR, the more worried Zero became. Although the flurry of activity from earlier had died down somewhat, parts and equipment were still occasionally being brought into the OR. The fact that X was still _in_ the OR, after all this time, meant that there were probably complications of some kind. Which was a bad sign.

Simple part replacement normally took far less time, even for multiple damaged parts. The med techs had once had to replace Zero's entire left leg. Even with all the spare parts having to be pulled out of storage and assembled into a matching leg, then surgically attached and synchronized with his systems, it had taken much less time than X had been in surgery today. Zero wasn't quite sure how long that was, exactly. He had stopped checking his internal chronometer sometime after 8pm. That had been a while ago. Zero didn't even want to consider just _how_ long ago.

Zero glanced over at Axl. The kid was slumped forward, his eyes nearly shut. He looked just about ready to fall asleep right there. He was definitely showing his exhaustion. Having parts replaced always wore a guy out, and not just because that meant he had been injured. Any injury taxed a reploid's power reserves as energy was shunted to the auto-repair systems. But having parts replaced put an even bigger drain on the energy grid. Their systems had to synchronize the new parts with the rest of their body and gradually build the power levels in the new parts up to par with the rest of their grid. System diagnostics were run continuously during this period to make sure there were no malfunctions or system conflicts with the new parts. Energy reserves were always drained to accomplish this, which was why injured reploids needed a recovery period after surgery, same as humans, though shorter.

Zero sighed softly as Axl's eyes shut fully and his chin slipped slightly from his palm. He jerked slightly and forced his eyes back open, though they began drooping shut almost immediately again. Zero shook his head and leaned forward, gripping Axl's right shoulder. Axl started and straightened up to glance at him.

"Come on, kid. You're gonna end up face down on the floor if you keep that up. And the nurses will blame me, I'm sure." Zero tugged lightly on his shoulder and pulled Axl back to lean against his side. "Get some rest, huh? I'll wake you if there's anything new."

Axl pulled away slightly. "But I don't want to fall asleep. Not yet. Not till I know."

"Come on. You need it, Axl. You just had your shoulder and upper arm replaced. You're going to drop if you keep trying to force yourself awake. Rookies will be tripping over you in the hallway come morning."

Axl snorted. "Would not. You'd drag me by my feet back to my room before that could happen."

"Hmm. Good point. But still, get some rest. If you fall over, the nurses will be all over my hide for not making sure you were okay."

"I would think y-y-yoouu," a yawn cut his sentence off, "would appreciate that." Axl finished as he slumped sideways onto Zero's left shoulder.

Zero snorted as he leaned the both of them back against the wall. "And people say _I_ have a gutter-brain. And trust me, that's not the kind of 'all over' that would be a pleasant experience."

"Mm… 'll take yer wor' fer it…" Axl muttered sleepily.

"You do that, kid." Zero sighed as he felt Axl relax into sleep. He leaned his head back and stared blankly up at the ceiling once more.

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Time passed intermittently. None of the med techs that were on duty this late bothered them as they continued to wait. Axl shifted a few times in his sleep, burying his face into Zero's shoulder, but he didn't start snoring. Zero really hoped he didn't drool.

The sound of an OR door hissing open caught Zero's attention. It took him a second to pull himself out of the zoning stupor he had been falling into. Zero tilted his head forward to locate the sound. Upon identifying its source, Zero started and jerked himself up straight. Axl mumbled something incoherent and shifted to press his nose against Zero's neck. Zero flinched in surprise at the rush of warm breath against his collarbone before shifting and shaking Axl slightly to wake him up.

"Hey, kid, wake up."

"Mrph… graargphf."

"Come on. Wake up, Axl. Something's going on." Zero shook him a little harder, careful not to jostle his left shoulder.

"Nrrng?" Axl blinked and lifted his head to peer blurrily at Zero.

"Come on, Axl, sit up. Med techs are leaving X's OR. We need to find out what's going on."

"Hng… Whazza?" Axl shifted upright with a slight push from Zero and blinked sleepily to glance across the room toward the OR in question.

The doors had hissed open a moment ago and exhausted looking medical technicians were filing out, pulling off their surgeons garb as they went. Once Zero was sure Axl was awake enough not to fall over without support, he stood up to corner the nearest one. He didn't have to.

Lifesaver came out of the OR behind a small cluster of medics and glanced around before catching Zero's eye and nodding with a slight, tired smile.

Relief flooded Zero and nearly made him go limp and drop to the floor if Axl hadn't stood up just then and gripped his shoulder, squeezing reassuringly. The two made their way across the ward to just outside the door where Lifesaver stood. Neither of them had to voice the question, Lifesaver could read it on their faces as they glanced between him and the OR door.

"He'll make it."

Zero nodded and Axl grinned brightly.

"Can we see him?" Axl asked eagerly.

"He needs rest more than anything right now. He's still out, you know. He won't be waking up for a while. Not until he comes out of power conservation shut-down."

"We'd still like to see him." Zero replied.

"Figured you would. He's being moved to an ICU recovery room right now."

"Intensive Care Unit? But you said…"

Lifesaver cut Axl's worried voice off. "He's still dangerously low on energy. We've repaired his generator leak, but his power grid is still in a state of low-level flux. He'll have to spend some time hooked up to the life support generators in the ICU to stabilize his power grid. But we expect a full recovery, given time, _and rest_. As X's chief physician, I'll tolerate none of your usual shenanigans in the recovery ward, understood?" Lifesaver glared pointedly at Zero. "X needs _rest_, _not_ pizza and beer deliveries, _not_ get-well-soon singing telegram girls, and _not_ spontaneous parties attended by half the 0th and 17th units."

Zero frowned slightly. "You sure know how to take the fun out of being sick, Lifesaver."

Lifesaver snorted. "It's not meant to be fun. You can throw him all the parties you like, _after _he's been discharged."

Zero nodded. "We're not leaving till we see him for ourselves, though." Axl nodded firmly.

"Since I'm sure I can't dissuade either of you, no matter how much common sense I pile on your heads… Follow me."

Lifesaver led them on a shortcut to the ICU. Rather than going around and down the hall, he took them through one of the unused operating rooms and out through the doors in the back. They led directly into the ICU ward hallway, for quick access for patients and medics in case of emergency. He led them down the hall to room 126. Pushing the slightly ajar door open the rest of the way, Lifesaver ushered the two Hunters inside.

Zero and Axl moved to the bedside across from the medic who was setting up a reploid blood IV drip. She smiled reassuringly at them before slipping past Lifesaver and out the door.

"I'll give you two a couple of minutes. But then I want you both to head to bed. Especially you, Axl. You're supposed to be resting right now." Axl nodded absently, never taking his eyes off of X, as Lifesaver shook his head and headed out of the room.

X lay in the bed, swathed in gauze bandages to hold the skin grafts in place to prevent scarring. His upper arms, chest, and shoulders were wrapped and so was his entire waist. The sheets covered him to the upper chest, but the bulky outlines of thick bandaging were apparent at his waist and hips. His arms were above the sheets, and where they weren't bandaged, the generator cables sank through the synthflesh into his forearms to hook directly into his power grid, much like IV cables into human veins, but more numerous and all down his forearm. More of the life support cables snaked under the edges of the sheets, presumably to hook into his legs and torso. The reploid blood IV was hooked into his right elbow to replace what he had lost earlier in the day.

Axl reached out and lightly wrapped his hand around X's wrist, feeling the reassuring pulse of coolant and blood under his fingers. "He looks… worse… than I expected…"

"A damn sight better than last we saw him."

"True. But… I don't know… I expected him to look better. You know? …He always manages a smile, even when he's banged up five ways from Sunday. I always know he'll be okay, no matter how bad he looks, so long as he gives that smile… But, he's not now…"

"Yeah… I know what you mean. You've never really seen him right after he's been seriously messed up, have you. Not like this, anyhow… He hasn't been this badly hurt in years. Not since before we met you, really… But, just you wait; first thing he'll do when he wakes up and sees us is smile. Give him a few days and he'll be good as new." Zero grinned reassuringly at the younger reploid. Axl nodded and returned a slight smile.

The door opened behind them and they turned to see Lifesaver in the doorway. "I trust you've assured yourselves he's not going to vanish into thin air during the rest of the night?"

Zero grinned. "Yup. Come on kid. Let's get you into bed. Then I need to hunt down Alia and spread the good news."

Axl nodded and turned away from the bed before heading out past Lifesaver. Zero paused and leaned over X, reaching out to ruffle his hair slightly. "Don't make a liar out of me, little buddy." Zero murmured, "I expect to see you with that stupid grin on your face in a day or two, huh?" Zero then straightened up and headed out of the room, Lifesaver closing the door after him, leaving X alone to sleep, carefully monitored by the life-support sensors.

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The Maverick Hunter Medical Ward was quiet and nearly deserted this time of night. The main lighting was dimmed to save power and allow any patients to sleep undisturbed by bright lights. The largest pool of light was centered on the med ward's night station desk. There were only two on-duty med techs stationed at the night desk. They were responsible for monitoring the sensor readings of patients' vitals. A handful of medics were stationed in offices down the hall, on-call in case of emergencies.

It was a slow night now that the slew of surgical technicians had retired to their quarters for sleep. The only patient currently in the ICU was X, and his situation required rest rather than constant supervision. There were maybe a dozen other patients in the standard recovery wing for reasons ranging from a bout of the flu to recovering from a broken leg.

It was sometime during the indeterminable hours of the night, either far too early or far to late, that one of the night duty med techs headed down to the offices to pass the time over a cup of coffee with a friend. The remaining night desk medic was human, and being only human, slipped off to take a bathroom break for a few minutes, as humans are wont to do. Leaving no one at the desk to stop the solitary figure that peered cautiously around the edge of the window set into the door, before slipping into the deserted ward lobby from the hallway.

Which was a good thing, considering that Alia knew perfectly well that visiting hours were long since over, and if she were caught she'd be summarily marched right back out the doors. Not to mention, if that happened, then her nocturnal visitation would certainly be making the rumor mill rounds within the hour. Still… she wasn't about to let that deter her.

'And damnit, visiting X is perfectly well within my rights… as a_ friend_, of course. After all, that's what friends do when you're sick and in the med ward.' Alia nodded to herself as she slipped past the night desk and into the hallway that joined the recovery wings to the treatment ward and the operating rooms. Although, Alia did have to concede to the fact that most friends didn't normally sneak into medical facilities after hours to visit someone who was, according to Zero, out like a light till at least late tomorrow morning. But at this point, she didn't really care what this might look like to a casual observer. She needed to know.

Zero had tracked her down some time ago and told her that X had come out of surgery just fine and was expected to make a full recovery. Alia hadn't wanted to admit to herself just how worried she had been, until it had suddenly dropped off her shoulders. After all, he was invincible, untouchable; he couldn't possibly be killed. He was X.

So long as she just kept telling herself that, it wouldn't hurt so much to watch him head out again and again to try to save the world from people who were bound and determined to shoot him or otherwise kill him. Maybe, if she told herself that enough times, she'd actually start to believe it. Having her already paper-thin illusions shattered had nearly broken something deep inside her. Oh she knew his invulnerability was an illusion. But sometimes, that was all she had. Sometimes, it was all that kept her from breaking down. It was hard enough worrying about him when he was on a mission, but to have the same fears come up during a vacation? For Light's sake, was there never a time he could be safe? Wasn't it enough that she worried she might never see him again every time he went out on a mission?

From the moment she had learned he had been badly injured, Alia had been driving herself to distraction. Anything to keep her mind off of what was happening in the medical ward. Zero had found her buried deep in a records room, filing and re-filing old communication reports. Granted, it had been make-work, but it had kept her hands, and most especially her mind, busy to the point where she could at least pretend to distance herself from the situation. Despite that, the worry had been eating at her all day. Especially the not knowing. She was convinced that this sort of worry was the source of the expression 'fear of the unknown.' Or at least a major contributor.

She had realized how futile that had been the minute Zero told her X was out of surgery. The relief had nearly floored her, literally. Zero might have been tired himself, but he was quick on his feet. He'd caught her almost before she'd started to fall. She'd waved it off as exhaustion, and Zero had proceeded to practically half-carry her back to her quarters and insisted she get some rest. She had protested, of course, but was secretly grateful. At the time, she'd been such a mess of emotions that she wasn't sure she could have found her quarters without a map and a homing beacon.

Before leaving for his own quarters, Zero had promised to drop by early to check on her and to help her get in to visit X. However, Alia soon found a new twist to her emotions had appeared. Despite the reassurance from Zero, and the logic that said he would never lie to her about this, she was having trouble believing X would truly be all right. Regardless of how much logic she chucked at her emotions, they refused to cooperate and let her get some rest. She had quickly come to the conclusion that the only thing that could allay her fears, unfounded though they were, would be to go see him herself.

Of course, Alia knew X would be oblivious to the world for a while, but she still needed to see him. This need went well beyond logic, which somewhat scared her. So she reassured herself that medical ward visitations, regardless of time of day, were something friends did for each other. And she and X were friends. Which led to the current situation.

She already knew which room in the ICU he had been assigned. It was only a moment before she stood outside the door to room 126. Alia inhaled deeply before releasing her breath in a sigh as she gathered her frayed emotions. She knew X was just beyond the door, but now that she was here, she was terrified of what she would see on the other side. She knew he'd been injured badly, but she had taken great pains to make sure she didn't know just _how_ badly. She hadn't wanted to know, even if the not knowing made her want to scream. Knowing specifics made it more real somehow. Now that she was here, she almost couldn't bring herself to open the door. But she did.

Alia slipped inside the dimly lit room and, turning to face the door, silently shut it. Facing the door, she steeled herself for whatever she might see and slowly turned around.

For a long while, she just stood, and stared, soaking up the sight of him from the doorway. He was covered to his chest by the sheets while bandages wrapped his shoulders and arms. An IV and assorted life support generator cables were hooked into his arms and into the rest of his body under the sheet. Despite how uncomfortable or painful the sight of the bandages and cables might have been, Alia barely noticed them. What caught and held her attention was his face.

His eyes were closed and his tousled black hair hung forward over his eyes, a particularly long lock brushed against the bridge of his nose. He almost looked asleep, though she knew he was in energy conservation shutdown. He looked so young and terribly fragile at that moment. It was hard to believe he was a legend in his own right, let alone that it was a legend he usually lived up to.

Before Alia had consciously made a decision to move, she had crossed the gap between them and stood by his bedside. She watched him for a moment, sensing something was off, but not quite sure what. Frowning slightly, she reached out and gently brushed the hair out of his eyes. Her fingers lingered, brushing across his cheek and temple for just a moment. It was then that she realized what was off about this.

Alia had occasionally had the opportunity to see X while he was sleeping. Sometimes he'd simply work late and fall asleep at his desk and she'd have to wake him up and send him off to his rooms. Other times, during get-togethers of close friends that lasted late into the night, he'd be relaxed enough to just slip into sleep on a couch or in an armchair. It didn't happen often enough that the difference between real sleep and shutdown had been immediately apparent to her. But now that she'd gotten closer, it became obvious.

In normal sleep, even reploids dreamed. Just as with dreaming humans, their eyes would often move beneath closed lids. A sleeper would shift position at times and muscles would twitch and shift occasionally, even synthetic muscles were normally programmed for this. From when Alia had caught X asleep, she knew that he was no exception to these little quirks. However, right now, X was almost utterly still. Almost frighteningly so.

In emergency system shutdown, all non-essential systems were shut down and power was diverted to maintaining life support and repairs. Little things like reflexes and dreaming REM movements were non-essential. Without those tiny little things that served to visually show he was still alive, X, terrifyingly, looked almost dead.

Alia sank slowly to sit on the edge of the bed as she realized her hands were quaking slightly. She shook her head and clasped them tightly together in her lap to stop the shaking. She silently berated herself for being so foolish. 'Of course he's alive!' X's design had always been difficult to properly scan, especially for scanning systems not specifically programmed to be able to work their way past the built-in scanner defenses Light had given X. However, Alia's personal sensor system was familiar enough with X's systems to be able to detect that he was indeed still alive, and his generator was running properly despite fairly low energy levels.

Alia closed her eyes, shook her head and steadied herself with another deep breath. 'Stop letting your imagination run away with you, girl,' she silently reprimanded herself. She opened her eyes and regarded X's form once more. This time, she was drawn to the only movement in his otherwise still form. There was nothing that visually indicated life except the steady rise and fall of his chest.

He was breathing.

In…

Out…

Since his generator was now repaired, and working to restore power levels as well as integrate the new parts, higher core temperatures were being produced. This required both the primary and secondary coolant systems to remain fully operational. This information did register to her, and was reassuring in a logical sense. However, for some reason, the fact that this meant he continued to breathe was infinitely more reassuring.

Alia closed her eyes and sighed softly, bowing her head as relief flooded her. After a moment, she opened her eyes again and this time, her gaze was pulled from the clasped hands in her lap to X's hand, less than a foot from her hip.

His hand lay limply on top of the sheets. The power cables stopped several inches above his wrist, leaving his hand free to move once he woke up. Alia hesitantly reached out and gently touched the back of his hand with her fingertips. He was warm. Just as warm as he'd always been whenever they had happened to touch. She shifted her hand to curl around his wrist. Just below the synthetic skin, she could feel the reassuringly steady pulse of his veins. She released his wrist after a moment and lightly ran her fingertips down his palm and curled them around his own fingers, sliding her own between his.

Alia lifted her gaze to his face once more and smiled slightly. This was what she had wanted, what she had needed to know. Here was reassurance beyond any doubt.

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Alia sat on the edge of the bed; her fingers twined with his, and watched X steadily breathe. Time passed, but she didn't pay it much attention. She was focused so intently on the sleeper that she was startled when she realized it was nearly morning. Zero had said he would drop by her quarters early in the morning to check on her.

'Damn!' Alia cursed herself silently as she realized just how long she had sat here obliviously. She'd never hear the end of it, especially if Zero found out.

Reluctantly, Alia disentangled her hand from X's and slipped off the bedside. She paused at the door to look back at him and smiled softly. A moment later and there was nothing left to indicate she had ever been there.

Alia safely made it back to her quarters unnoticed by medical staff or random morning people. Tanya was still asleep and Alia made it into her own bedroom without incident. This time, however, she found herself all too ready for sleep.

Ironically, Zero didn't show up to keep his 'early visitation' promise until nearly noon. She relieved some of her annoyance at him by teasing him over his definition of 'early.' But Zero just smiled enigmatically as they reached the med ward and let her take her shots.

Lifesaver smiled when he saw them and sent them on in to see X, saying that Axl was already inside. When Zero pushed the door open and ushered Alia in, the first thing they saw was X, awake and slightly propped up by a pillow. Though he looked somewhat tired, his green eyes lit up when he saw them. Axl twisted around to face them and grinned. He had dragged a couple of chairs in and was perched in one of them beside the bed.

"Hey." X smiled.

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Alia had not even realized that she had been so completely preoccupied the night before while with X, that she had not even noticed when a silent observer had slipped in through the door, watched for a short time, smiled, and then left just as quietly as he had come.

When Zero had said 'early' he had meant _early_. But when he'd discovered Alia wasn't in her quarters, he had set out to find her. He had a promise to keep to her, after all. But while reviewing likely places she might be, a suspicion formed. Never one to leave suspicions uninvestigated, Zero 'dropped by' the med ward and found Alia right where he'd hoped.

After a moment, he'd decided that maybe he didn't need to keep the promise at such an early hour and slipped back out with a smile. More sleep beckoned him. Besides, they didn't need to be disturbed.

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The End

Owari

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**Reviewer Reply section:**

I'll usually only be replying to questions and clarifications from the last chapter or if someone new brings up something from a previous chapter that I feel needs a response. Sorry I can't reply to everyone but that would take up a lot of space and time.

**Ryan**:

Not really. I'm an English Creative Writing Major, but I took high school biology. Does that count?

**ravenf6**:

Well, I think the medics did an okay job, don't you? Maybe not as quick or spiffy as Dr. Light, but still.

**JimVan**:

Would it horribly disillusion you to know I have never been scuba diving? I went snorkeling in Hawaii, once. And I was sick as a dying dog when I did so. I had a 102 fever that came and went in waves and was developing minor bronchitis. Have you any idea how hard it is to breath through a snorkel when you have to stop and tread water every half hour or so to wheeze for breath? Thank heaven for swim fins, those so helped keep me afloat. But, by God, I was not leaving Hawaii without going snorkeling!!

It was a family trip, we spent a week on Oahu and I was the only one who went snorkeling. I was also the only one sick the entire trip. -- The reef snorkeling was a boat trip tour group thing too. That's where I got the idea for X, Zero, and Axl's boat tour to the reef. And there really was a barbeque lunch provided, and volleyball too (we stopped for lunch on a sandbar several miles out from shore where the water was only about 3 feet deep or less in most places on the sandbar and set up a volleyball net). I couldn't play because I had to get out of the water and catch my breath. I had a lot of fun though, even if I had to stay close to the boat in case my bronchitis decided to try to kill me. Just call me crazy… I know you already do behind my back… er screen…

Oh, just so you know, replacing his generator would kill poor X. His brain would get wiped. So if they can't fix the leak, then he's done for. Poor, poor X.

A chapter for the weapons replication systems? That would probably be more than one chapter. I've been almost afraid to touch that idea. So much potential to write myself into a corner, which would require a gigantic plot hole to escape from. Considering how many various attack systems that have been gained by X, Zero, and even Axl, and how a lot of them are very different from other weapons systems. For example, Yammark's dragonfly drones. I doubt X got control of them the same way he got Cyber Peacock's Aiming Laser.

**Bobcat Moran**:

Glad you like the 'kid' nickname. Zero's been calling him that since chapter 1. I decided Axl would get 'kid' and X would graduate to 'man' or 'buddy' unless he's being an obstinate nuisance, then he regresses to 'kid.'

Darn stupid uploading. It's perfectly italicized on my word document. _grumble mumble_

Nope, reploids don't give off 'food' signals. That's why most animals won't bother them. There's an uber-adorable page in one of the Rockman X manga (I saw a scanlation online, so I don't know which manga) where X shows up late to a meeting with Zero in some sort of wooded area. Zero's been impatiently waiting for him, and when X finally does show up, he brought friends. He arrives riding a deer (I think it was a stag) accompanied by all sorts of other woodland critters, and looking just so darned happy about it too. D I almost expected the critters and X to burst into Disney-esque song, but then the mavericks showed up. So no, X didn't go all Snow White on Zero.

In my story-verse, this is actually the first time, ever, that a reploid has been attacked by a shark. Poor X, he just has to be first in everything doesn't he. However, in real life, sharks have been known to attack and eat random stuff. I think that it's fairly common when a stomach autopsy is done on a very large shark (that's been caught usually because of being a suspected man-eater) to find weird stuff in its stomach like license plates and parts of car bumpers, or even old tires and tin cans. Sharks eat some weird stuff sometimes.

Actually, I figure plasma underwater would superheat the water it touches and pretty much vaporize and atomize it rapidly. This would make it bubble and hiss, leaving a trail of bubbles and superheated water in its wake when shot, or sliced through the water. Think, sort of like a torpedo trail, only more bubbles. I didn't put that in during Zero's fight… I should have though. And remember, Zero is using Dash thrusters throughout almost the entire fight, and Dolphos is a dolphin based aquatic reploid. So they're both swimming and moving really fast during that fight. So lots of bubbles in their wakes. Whee! We Bubbling! Er… Rockman.EXE Stream reference.

Um, does your mind wandering mean that the attack didn't keep your attention? Should it have been shorter? Less detailed? Any suggestions to make it better? I kind of rushed chapter 8 because I had a paper due the next day that I still had to write. So, I'm not as happy with how it turned out as I could have been.

Sonar controlled sharks. Let me try to clear that up a bit. It's not just a sonar burst Dolphos is using. Ordinary sonar, no matter how loud, couldn't push Zero, using Dash thrusters, back during his charge. Dolphos was using a sonic compression wave to form nearly solid pulses of water to push Zero back. At low power, he can use the sonar pulse as ordinary sonar, but at higher power he can use it as a weapon. Imagine what he must sound like out of water. P

Buried under the main sonic pulse are subsonic frequencies that Dolphos manipulates to send subliminal auditory commands to creatures with weak wills or primitive intelligence. He can also use this to temporarily throw off targeting and sensor readings in reploids and computer systems by mimicking readings and sending false signals. More intelligent creatures or things with stronger wills are much more difficult to control. Dolphos would have to maintain continuous subliminal messages to maintain control over something as intelligent as an actual bottle-nosed dolphin or chimpanzee for longer than a few moments. Only a _very_ stupid, mentally damaged, or weak willed human could be affected for more than a few seconds of confusion.

A great white shark uses something like one-third to two-thirds of its brain for its sense of smell. This makes it fairly easy for Dolphos to give its relatively primitive intelligence commands that will last for a while, despite Dolphos being out of immediate control range. It was only when all the shark blood (reploid blood isn't technically real blood) in the water triggered the instinctual feeding frenzy in the two remaining sharks that Dolphos had to approach to intervene and stop them.

Sorry I didn't explain this better in the story.

Um… Is 'eep' good or bad?

Ah, yes. X-Waffles, best served with Scrambled-Axl, Toasted-Alia, and Zero-Juice, with a Signas-Muffin on the side. The breakfast of champions… Literally.

You're very welcome for the fanart. Was wondering if you'd even noticed it. It's on my deviantART account so if you want to provide a link to it from your profile, or whatever, you can, I don't mind. More publicity for me. (My deviantart stuff gets almost no love at all, poor pictures…). It would have been a lot better if I had an art pad for oekaki or even a scanner for sketches, but I don't, so I had to use my mouse.

**Y2J Chris Jericho**:

I believe your Dr. Evil pinky sensor might be correct. But not for this story. For Christmassy fluffy goodness check my profile for another story that'll be going up this month.

**Notes:**

So… um… yeah.

I know I said this was going to be a short chapter, but the characters decided to do something different. Zero decided he needed some shower angst, and Signas wanted to give a pep-talk, then Axl decided to be adorable sleepy little brother, and I had to throw in Lifesaver, it's his med ward after all. And then there's Alia. I hope I managed to portray her well. And poor X was just going to be a lump in the bed for the whole fic, but then he decided he wanted at least one line.

So what did you all think of my portrayal of Lifesaver, Signas and Alia? They haven't gotten much, if any, page time before this, so I would appreciate your opinions on how well I managed to write them.

Anyway, I'm going to be putting up a sketch of Axl from chapter 7 on my deviantART account. It'll be under the name Menolly5600. Take a look, if you like.

I still haven't gotten around to posting any of my X Christmas fic. I've been busy worrying about being called in for Jury Duty and couldn't concentrate on writing this past week. But now I'm done with JD (Done in only one day! Whoot!), and can now concentrate on my writing.

Keep an eye out for the next chapter. It will go up in just a few days probably and is very short. It's an Interlude chapter, hosted by none other than Dynamo himself. So keep an eye out for it.

Till next time!


	10. An Interlude

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own or lay claim to Rockman/Megaman X or any of its characters. If you don't sue, I'll keep entertaining you with my sense of humor-ish-ness and other assorted writing skills.

**Important:**

This chapter is rated PG and MSP8. The first for Dynamo's creative phrasing, and for those of you wondering what the heck that second rating is: Minor SPoiler for X8. That's because I make a tiny minor mention of a character that appears in X8, and one who is in Command Mission, but that's been out a lot longer than X8 has, so doesn't really count as a spoiler. It's nothing that gives away the story though, so no worries.

And now:

I present to you all… An Interlude. Starring, Dynamo!

**Note:**

The views and opinions of Dynamo do not reflect those of the writer, her family, this station, this website, or this planet, in general.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **An Interlude**

**Presenting: Professor Dynamo's Happy Helpful Reploid Facts and Fictions Hour**

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Axl yawned sleepily as he wandered into the 0th unit's common room carrying a box in his arms. It was around 8am standard local time, he was off-duty for the rest of the day, and was looking forward to spending some quality time with the big vidscreen wall television. There had been a party the night before which ended with Zero and most of the 0th drunk enough to have to sleep it off for a while. Which meant Axl should have the vidscreen all to himself, and his brand spankin new game console system, for hours to come.

Blasting alien scum was so much more satisfying when done on a screen nearly as big as X was tall.

Axl hummed happily to himself as he crossed the room and began setting up his system on the low coffee table between the vidscreen and the couch. Once the console was set up with all the feeds pointed in the right directions, Axl scooped up the controller and flopped back onto the couch. Then grumbled to himself when he realized he'd forgotten to actually turn the vidscreen on.

This resulted in the hunt for the remote. Which lasted for ten minutes before he decided to check the pool table corner pockets. Axl shook his head as he flicked it to get pieces of caramel corn off the buttons. No wonder requisitions hated Zero and the rest of his unit.

Axl returned to his seat and flicked on the vidscreen. Now all that remained was choosing which game to play. What sort of carnage did he feel like wreaking today? Aliens? Undead legions? Mavericks? Or good old fashioned RPG monster bashing?

Axl's musings were cut off by a familiar voice, originating, confusingly enough, from the vidscreen across from him. He glanced up from his ponderings and sat and stared blankly for a moment at the face on the television.

A familiar, and usually unwelcome, face smiled back at him. Granted, he wasn't wearing armor at this time, but his features and long silver hair were dead giveaways. Not to mention the fact that he introduced himself.

"Greetings Repliphiles and welcome back! Professor Dynamo here. It certainly is good to have you all tuning in here (and at my mercy, or lack thereof)." Dynamo flashed the camera a winning smile from his seat, presumably at a desk of some sort.

Axl blinked. "Since when is _he_ a _professor_?"

"Welcome to Dynamo's Helpful Reploid Facts and Fictions. Where I provide both, and you have to figure out what the hell is going on. Today we're going to tackle an interesting issue dealing with proper details and explanations. First of all, allow me to explain how certain shortcomings were brought to my attention. Now, as you all know, or should, there are certain reploids with quite the reputations. In fact, there are some who are just so darn famous they get their own fanclubs. Now, you all might think this would be incredibly spiffy. But honestly, considering some of the fan group topics I've come across, I'm rather glad I don't have crazed official fangirls, or boys, worshipping me. Now, while it may be supremely amusing, and rather twisted, to hear about the latest fan chat session discussing the relationships, or lack thereof, of such high and mighty figures as Hunters Zero and Rockman X…"

Axl choked and dropped his controller.

"…Including the plausibility of Zero dragging X off to the nearest closet to jump his frame…"

Axl's jaw dropped, and his skin tone paled a few shades while a rapid blush spread across his cheeks.

"I've noticed a distinct lack of accuracy and explanation about certain things that concern reploids…"

"GAH! Bad thoughts! BAD thoughts!" Axl wailed and thumped his fists against his temples; his eyes squinched shut.

"Specifically," Dynamo continued, oblivious to the fact that he was probably going to get some serious retribution for this particular broadcast once Zero found out about it, "dealing with the Three Laws of Robotics. For people professing to adore reploids, those two in particular, these fans can certainly come up with some odd ideas about how things work."

Axl moaned and held his head. "Think, think, Axl." How could he possibly find a way to stop this broadcast before it got any worse? More importantly, how could he stop it before Dynamo started making references to _him_?

"Now, I've heard lot's of mention about what the Three are and how reploids must obey them and so forth and so on, yadda yadda yadda. But hardly anyone comes out and says what they are, except for the first, which isn't always fully explained anyhow."

Dynamo leaned forward and grinned brightly. "Well, I'm here to fix that, with my own professional interpretation." Reaching up and to the side, Dynamo pulled down a screen that had a list displayed on it. He took a collapsible pointer stick out of his pocket and pressed the trigger to expand it.

"As you can see, these cover the essential gist behind each of the Three." Dynamo proceeded to read them off as he tapped each item with the pointer stick.

1) A robot cannot cause harm to a human, or through inaction, allow harm to come to a human.

2) A robot must obey commands from a human, unless they conflict with the first rule.

3) A robot must practice self-preservation and cannot seek to allow harm or death to be inflicted upon itself.

Dynamo calmly folded the pointer stick back into its compact form and set it down on the desk in front of him. "Well, that's bullshit."

Dynamo leaned forward and placed his hands flat on the desk for emphasis. "The Three Laws of Robotics apply to robots, yes. But, not in the same way to reploids."

Dynamo settled back into his seat. "For reploids, the laws are really more of a set of guidelines. Sure, mechaniloids and robotic drones are still strictly subject to the Three, but that's because they can't go against their programming."

"Reploids, on the other hand… Reploids are sentient. We are self-aware and are perfectly capable of making our own decisions, free of programming restrictions. That ability to choose is what makes us reploids and not just robots."

"You see, reploids _choose_ to follow or break the Three Laws of Robotics. Barring a certain nasty virus, of course."

"Now, we have words for reploids depending on their choices about the rules." Dynamo nodded sagely. "Let me fill you in, and give a few examples."

Dynamo leaned back in his chair and held up his index finger. "First off, for reploids who follow all three rules pretty strictly, we call them namby-pamby pansy-assed goody-two shoes."

"Case in point," Dynamo reached up and pulled down another screen image. "…X."

Axl winced. It was not the most flattering of photographs. Axl couldn't place it for a moment, but then he remembered what had happened just prior to the image shown.

X, Zero, himself, Alia, and Cinnamon had been at a park to go to a barbeque and watch fireworks later in the evening with an assorted group of off-duty 17th and 0th members. They had been going down a flight of stairs to a lower level of the park walkway when a group of revelers had run past them and someone had bumped into X from behind. He would have fallen headfirst down the rest of the concrete steps if Zero hadn't caught him by the shoulder.

That had resulted in X being spun around to face Zero. However, he had still been off balance and was now in danger of falling backwards and sideways down the stairs. Zero had leaned forward and shifted his grip to X's waist to catch him. Then, to keep both of them from falling down, Zero had had to brace his legs and push his hips forward to throw his weight backwards.

_Someone_ had apparently taken a picture at that precise moment. The result was that the image displayed was of Zero leaning forward over X as he held him around the waist and against his hips. X had this somewhat startled, yet relieved expression as he looked up at Zero's face and gripped his upper arms. Not the best way to discount theories of Zero and X being an item.

Axl whimpered slightly and thumped his forehead against his clasped fists. This just got worse and worse. He could only dread how Dynamo was going to portray him.

Dynamo tapped the picture of X and continued his lecture. "This guy risks his life on a semi-annual basis for a bunch of dumbass humans that wouldn't give him the time of day if he wasn't such a big-shot hero of humanity." Dynamo shook his head. "I mean, some of the crap the G. U.N. orders the Hunters to do is such a load of bull I'm surprised MHHQ doesn't stink like a sewage treatment plant. And ole X here just laps it up and follows along, his sidekicks, Blondie and Junior, tagging along behind."

Axl winced. He could practically sense the approaching doom now.

"X is a grade A goody-two shoes. He wouldn't know how to get the crowbar out of his ass and loosen up a bit if instructions fell from the heavens and beamed him in the head."

Axl buried his face in his hands and slunk down into the couch cushions. How could he possibly find a way to defuse _this_ situation and avoid two royally pissed off best friends? Zero was sure to go ballistic… and X… X would seethe silently and get all stressed and snappish.

"Now," Dynamo continued, "for reploids that break the Third rule. Well, we call them suicidal dumbasses."

"Perfect example." Dynamo snapped the pointer stick back onto the ever-present incriminating photo. "Zero."

Yup, definitely ballistic… and probably homicidal… or would that be replicidal?

"Can you believe this guy just up and killed himself?" Dynamo shook his head reproachfully. "And over what? So he could save X and be a hero or some such. Like the little blue goober really needed saving."

"This hero crap is just an excuse to get yourself blown up. Give up living? For that?" Dynamo shook his head firmly and thrust his thumb into his chest. "Not this 'ploid."

"Then we come to Rule number Two." Dynamo smiled. "Well this one's pretty easy. Luckily, no one I know has been dumb enough to qualify as an example for this category."

"Any reploid that will blindly follow the commands of any and every human that crosses his path is a Sucker with a capital Suck." Dynamo crossed his arms over his chest and nodded firmly.

"Can you imagine?" Dynamo shook his head. "Some poor shmuck of a reploid has just bought himself an awesome new car when some random human comes along, gets a hankerin for the uber-sweet ride and says 'Yo, reploid dude, gimme that car.'"

"And he just up and hands it over cuz the human said so?" Dynamo shook his head and leveled his index finger at the camera. "I don't think so."

"Now we come to the most important of the Rules." Dynamo grinned. "Numero Uno. That makes it the most important, you know." Dynamo nodded.

"Reploids that willfully break this law are Mavericks. Not to mention criminals." Dynamo nodded curtly, once.

"Aside from that whole maverick virus thing, any reploid that harms a human with the intent of doing so is branded a maverick and subject to 'retirement', courtesy of the local Hunters, or whatever Bounty Hunting group gets there first."

"Now," Dynamo leaned forward to fix the camera with a stare, "for those of you thinking, 'Wow, choosing your own path in life and being a maverick would be uber-cool!' think again."

"Sure, you get the spiffy rep." Dynamo leaned back and shrugged nonchalantly. "Nobody sane even _thinks_ about messing with you. Heads turn when you walk in the room. 'It's all good,' you say." Dynamo shook his head.

"But," Dynamo held up a finger, "think about this before you run off and beat down the next human you see. What kind of a social life does a maverick have?"

"Prime Example." Dynamo leaned back and pulled down another screen. "Good ole Sigma, that crazy cat."

The picture was an old image of Sigma, looking rather maniacal, taken from his original call-to-arms broadcast to the reploid population just as all hell broke loose during the First Maverick Uprising. The only new additions to the picture were squiggly black lines depicting a curly mustache, a goatee, a wicked looking uni-brow, and devil horns.

"You think Sigma got any of the hot chicks with his reputation?" Dynamo cocked an eyebrow querulously at the camera. "Not a chance. Could he go to the hottest smexiest party locations?" Dynamo shook his head. "No way. Could he hang out in the local bar and down a tall frothy friend and shoot some pool?" Dynamo paused thoughtfully. "Well, he could… but he'd be the only one in the building."

"You see, non-maverick people just don't like mavericks all that much." Dynamo shrugged. "Go figure, huh. Somethin to do with all that psychotic killing they do, I suppose."

Axl despaired of ever being able to apply logic to find a way to end this mess.

"Plus, there's that pesky fact that all those Hunter hero types are always after your hide to satisfy their heroicness." Dynamo shook his head.

"So you see, being maverick just isn't all it's cracked out to be. And I should know, I used to get saddled with that ignominious title all the time." Dynamo nodded sagely.

"But, I found myself a really great lawyer, got some dirt on him, and proved I didn't deserve it." Dynamo grinned. "It helps that nobody ever took out the statute of limitations for crimes where reploids are involved."

Dynamo leaned back and folded his hands behind his head with a grin. "That just goes to show you that good things come to those who wait, and live long enough."

Dynamo straightened up. "Well, I hope I managed to edify you all on the Three Laws of Robotics."

"This is your friendly neighborhood Mercenary, Dynamo, signing off."

Axl blinked at the television as the image switched off of Dynamo and went to some sort of infomercial. Had he actually managed not to get maligned somehow? He thought back to try to determine if his name had been used. Then winced when he remembered all the rest of what Dynamo had said… and shown. Oh this was going to be bad. Axl could only hope there was a friendly deity up there somewhere that had decided to restrict the broadcast to this television alone.

Axl slowly straightened up in his seat. It was about this time that he became aware of an almost subsonic rumbling from behind him. He slowly turned around and blinked in surprise when he found a rather grumpy looking Zero standing just inside the doorway of the rec room. Zero did not look happy.

"A-ah… Z-Zero, I-I can explain. This isn't what it looks like… I was just… and my game… and then… with the remote… and…" Axl trailed off helplessly and winced as Zero's low growl turned into a snarl, complete with bared teeth.

"_Where_ is this broadcasting from?" Zero ground out between his teeth.

"A-ah… I don't know… It was just on…"

Zero scowled and walked over to the wall computer console. He activated the communication system.

"Comm center, this is Zero, is Alia there?"

"Alia isn't scheduled to start her shift until after noon. Can I help you, Zero?" A calm collected female voice smoothly replied from the console's speaker system.

"Yes," Zero hissed, "Layer, I want to know where the television channel…" he paused and glanced at Axl questioningly.

"Channel, umm, 125."

"…Channel 125 is broadcasting from."

After a moment there came a reply. "Channel 125 is Public Access Broadcasting. Anyone who pays for a time slot can send a signal through 125's broadcasting satellite system and put on a show. They don't have a set studio. Just about every show is filmed and broadcast from private locations."

Zero growled and clenched his fists.

"Zero, it's usually full of sensationalist programs. Trash really. Why do you want to know?"

"No reason. Just wanted to… return a favor… Zero out." Zero turned away and inhaled deeply, fists clenched. "Axl…"

"Yeah?"

"…You got a marker with you?"

"Um… no, don't think so." Axl glanced around at the table. Then he frowned slightly. "Hang on." Axl stuck his hand down between the couch cushions and felt around for a moment. "Aha! Found one." He pulled a thick black marker out of the sofa and tossed it to Zero who snatched it out of the air. "Whatcha want it for?"

"If you need me… I'll be in training room 12… drawing that bastard's face on the training drones… Right before I wipe that smug look off their faces…" Zero grinned savagely before stalking out.

"Hmm." Axl turned back to the vidscreen and his game console, waiting patiently for him to select and activate a game to play. "I think this calls for a certain type of bashing…"

Axl selected the game adaptation of the Sixth Maverick Uprising: Nightmare Outbreak. Granted, he wasn't in it; but Axl felt X deserved to get some quality time with Dynamo after that 'interesting' broadcast.

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The End

Owari

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**Notes:**

Repliphiles: Repli -- reploid; -philes – from the Latin (or Greek, or something) _philos_  
meaning 'lover of' (or something like that)  
So, basically, 'lovers of reploids  
Examples of similar use: bibliophiles, (er the rest I can think of aren't so nice: replace biblio- with pedo- or necro- … yeah, with the squick andall that…) (biblio- is 'book' by the way) 

Replicide: Repli – reploid (again); -cide – (from yet another dead language), meaning 'to kill' (or something like that similar examples: homicide is 'to kill humans,' and suicide is 'to kill self'and then there's patricide, and regicide, and genocide, and the list goes on.

And who says you never learn anything on this website…

And now, on to other things.

I…

Have…

**X8**!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Please note that despite the following warning, there isn't much I've done in the game that can spoil you.)

**SPOILERISCIOUSNESS TO FOLLOW**

OMG! I've never played one of the Rockman/Megaman games before. But, oh my… Oh…. Oh my…. passes out and drools in pixilated 3D ecstasy

# o (ME)  
--  / 

I LOVE IT!!!!

I totally suck at it… Spent almost a whole day on it and still haven't beaten the first boss level… (on normal.) But I Don't Care!!!

They're so spiffy and shiny!!!

And so huggably 3D!!

…I want to pet Zero's hair…

…Does that make me creepy? --

Also, either he's prematurely losing his thick mane of hair… or his unit jumped him on the way out of the shower and cut off a bunch to thin it out… or he lost a bet… or he just switched conditioners… Zero's hair is very much not-the-poofy. It's slick and shiny smooth, and oh so pettable…

And it swishes when he moves.

(Twisty, turny, jumpy, swish, swish, swish) > -

I am easily amused by shiny, wavy thingies…

And I don't care what anyone says, I love Zero and X's voices! Axl's is good too, though I usually picture him sounding a bit younger…

Squee!! Almost the first thing X says to Zero is, "How you holding up?" Is that not just the total X-ness?

However… Palette… I think they took the English Rebecca from the Yugioh! dub and turned her into a reploid! She even _looks_ sort of like her, (or maybe a little like Yaito from Rockman.EXE – nothing against Yaito though, she manages to pull it off without coming across like Rebecca from Yugioh!; besides, she's supposed to look like a little 9 or 10 year-old girl.)! Palette even has an annoying know-it-all voice!

And she looks like a little kid… kinda like a kewpie doll… (those things scare me…)

Plus, what's with the glasses? Since when do reploids need glasses? I understand protective goggles, or diagnostic lens displays, or sunglasses, but ordinary looking reading-type glasses? And that hat-helmet-hair-thingy on her head. That's the weirdest helmet-thingy design I've ever seen. It looks almost like its floating above her head, rather than sitting on it…

Dear Lord, I hope no one decides to pair her romantically with Axl… Poor, poor Axl…

Palette, you had better not make any googly-eyed comments to Axl during this game to indicate you like my favorite little redheaded reploid…

GAH!! What's the world coming to!

Okay… enough with the Palette confuzzlement and bashing. Who knows, I may just grow fond of her after more time playing the game… maybe… Hey, it could happen.

Anyway, Layer is also in the game. Alia, Layer, and Palette are all technical spotters in X8. You get to choose which ones you take on each mission. Hence her appearance as a spotter in my fic.

…It's sad though; X, Zero, and Axl die an awful lot… Zero sounds in so much pain when he dies…

I'm so awful! I kill them!!! _sob_ ;--;

They die for _me_!!!

…

I just realized something… I… am… their… _god_!!

…

Um… I think all my Rockman X characters are hiding from me now…

Come back, guys… It was just a joke… I didn't mean it… Honest…

(crow caws)

(tumbleweed rolls past)

- >->

Anyway, the preceding was part of the reason for my flaky flakeness regarding the story 'A Very Merry X-mas' which, as you can see, is not up yet, and its already past Christmas…

I will get it up, it just might not be finished until well after new years… I hope you don't mind terribly about Christmas themes in January… Unless you think I should just wait till next Christmas to upload it?

Oh well… I'm off to face Optic Sunflower in his den of iniquity!!!

(I _finally_ got to the boss room.)

Go get 'em boys!

_RAWR!!! SPOON!!_

…

Back now…

Optic Sunflower… Sounds kinda like a girl… Looks like a flower… X calls it a 'he.'

Oh yeah… And he kicked my collective shiny metal hineys…

Next sunflower I see is getting the hedge clippers…

I suppose it's a good thing its winter right now, otherwise my neighbors wouldn't be too happy with me… neither would their garden…

Anyway, on with the show.

**Reviewer Reply Section:**

**Bryant Devillier**:

First off, I want to reply to someone who sent me an email. However, when I replied to it, I received a bounce back of my message because it said your account is unknown. Which is really weird.

Anyway. Hi Bryant.

Well, I'm assuming he has however many armors that he's gotten since the first X game, up through X8, and I suppose any future armors he'll have from future X games. My fic doesn't take place at an actual specific time period, just sometime in the future, a good while after X8. I'm also disregarding the entire Zero series so it could possibly be taking place in 22XX, or whenever the Zero series takes place, or even farther into the future. Theoretically, there could have been more X games that took place between X8 and my story. I probably won't be having X use any of the armors except the ones I actually know about, or ones I might make up myself. I'm not planning to mention specifically how many he has in my fic. That way, I can leave it open-ended for X to get more armors from future X games, but have had those armors for a while in my stories.

As for what I know he does have for certain from X1-X8, there's a list I made for reference that I've got somewhere.

X's Confirmed Armors:

Light Armor – X-  
Giga Armor – X-2  
Max Armour – X-3  
Gold Armor – X-3  
works like Max armor except with all the upgrade chips, I'm treating it as a  
separate armor  
Force Armor – X-4  
It's like the Ultimate but without Nova Strike, treating it as separate  
Ultimate Armor – X-4  
you also get this in X-5, X-6, and apparently CM, but I count it as the same arm  
suit  
Falcon Armor – X-5  
also in X-6 but I'm counting them as the same suit, but upgraded in X-6 to allow special weapons charging. Or maybe X just couldn't figure out how to activate  
that feature until X-6… I'm going to say it can still perform the invincible flight after X-6 even though the X-6 game says it can't. I'm pretty sure they took out that ability for game play purposes; you can start out with the Falcon armor after all. Wouldn't want you to be too strong right off the bat.  
Gaea Armor – X-5  
Blade Armor – X-6  
Shadow Armor – X-6  
Glide Armor – X-7  
Neutral Armor - X-8 

X-Fire Armor - Command Mission  
I've heard of this, but I'm not sure if it counts as an armor. I thought it was a Hyper mode thing like Zero's 'Absolute Zero' Hyper mode, or whatever it's called. But being a Hyper mode doesn't eliminate it from being an armor, either.

I know X also picked up some armor in the Xstream games. However, from their capabilities they seemed to be amalgamations of the Light and Giga armors and I wasn't sure whether to classify them as a re-use of Light or Giga, or a totally new armor. So for now, I've left them out of the list.

That's at least thirteen armors that X, for sure, has in my fics. He might have more, depending on whether or not he gets new armors in any future X games.

Hope this answered your question Bryant.

**Goldamon X:**

Ah yes, X's chameleon-ness. I'm afraid to touch that with a hundred foot pole (regardless of the fact that I'd never be able to _lift_ a pole that long, let alone poke something with it).

I tentatively toyed with the thought that maybe his armor is made of mood ring alloy. But then I came to my senses and tossed that idea out the nearest window.

When (If) I figure it out, I'll let you know by posting a chapter on it.

As for force metals and Hyper modes. I know next to nothing about them, and I try not to tackle a topic that I have no knowledge of. It's a lot easier to make stuff up if you've got at least some basis for your theories. I've never played Command Mission, though I plan to get the darn game now that I've experienced the joys of X8 so what if it's a totally different game play type, I like Final Fantasy games so no problems with the party-turn-based-combat for me. Besides, CM has the shinies in it!

Reploid DNA. I went into that in chapter 6 some. Essentially, the DNA is the energy patterns that form in each reploid's neural matrix. Since every reploid has a different personality and memories, these energy patterns are unique as power flows through the unique mental connection network in every reploid's 'brain.' It's not actual DNA like a human has. It's an energy signature that is unique to each reploid. But the signature is their 'brainwave' and defines who they are. Just as organic DNA defines what the living organism it belongs to is like (to a certain extent). It's just called reploid DNA. It's not really Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) as defined by the current term in dictionaries everywhere. So don't go thinking its some genetic code for reploids. Cuz it isn't (at least not in my opinion, anyway, for whatever that's worth).

**Dragonmaster01:**

Graaarg!! I went to find the picture to give a link to it. It's gone!!! The whole bloody image/scan/fanfic/fanart Megaman/Rockman website and galleries are gone!! I had the link to it, but now it goes to some sort of parent site that says that the website with the anime and game stuff on it is undergoing re-construction or something. So, it might get put back up at a later date. I'll check now and then to see. I can't guarantee anything though. Which sucks, because I wanted to see the picture again myself…

It's kind of hard to make out exactly what happened because the gallery I found the image in, as well as the parent site, are in Spanish. It's not fair. They had a lot of nice stuff, fan and official, on that site… The X and forest animals picture was in the scans section rather than the fanart sections so I'm fairly certain it was an actual X manga scan. Either way, it was an uber cute scene and was certainly professional looking. The style and art matched fairly well with what I've seen from the scanlation effort of the X1 manga at Dr. Neko's Lab. Also, the word bubbles of the forest animals scan were in Japanese (or maybe Chinese, it had a lot of kanji).

**ravenf6:**

Well, I don't know if you've seen a picture of X after he got his lower half blown off at the end of X-5 but he is _really_ trashed. His entire lower half is missing including what looks like the lower half of his ribcage as well. Both arms, both legs, hips, belly, and lower ribs are blown to smithereens. And what's left of his chest and shoulders looks pretty scrapped. About the only thing that looks intact, even marginally, is his helmet. Even his face is all scratched up. (I'm looking at a screenshot right now.)

Go here to see it. Take out the spaces. That kinda dead looking lump on the ground is X.

http : perso. wanadoo. es / lcasadog / cmc / x / gallery / mmx5 / Image19. jpg

Add in two of the / symbols right after the semi-colon. Stupid quickedit won't let them show up. Have I mentioned quickedit is evil? It won't let me put in any symbol faces or use tabs... Evil evil evil.

That's a lot of damage to get repaired. And most of his parts would have to be replaced completely, simply because the originals got blown up. In my fic, if X had been that badly off, he would have died. The medics couldn't have repaired that much damage before he died of power failure. (Especially considering that with that much damage done to his chest, the place where I guessed the power core generator to be, his generator would have been destroyed from the X-5 battle with Sigma.)

That's actually probably what happened, his generator exploded. The shot from Sigma's head went through his chest; his generator probably blew up and vaporized his lower body and arms. So my fiction universe med techs couldn't have saved him then. Only Light and his knowledge of X's systems could have known how to safely replace his generator and all the rest of him.

After the shark attack in chapter 8, X was not nearly as badly off as he had been at the end of X-5. The shark didn't actually do much damage to his legs or hips. To get an idea of the sort of damage done to X by the shark, try picturing this.

First, take normal unharmed X. Now from just below the ribcage to just above the pelvic bone (an area about a hand span or so wide), remove all that stuff in between, right around where the gut and bellybutton would be on a human. Go on, just slice him right in half, and mangle it a bit on the edges. But leave the spinal cord, and make it twisted and chewed on, like a computer mouse cord after your psycho pet cat gets at it. (She chews on cords and plastic, we don't know why, but she seems to enjoy it.) Then add shark bite marks all around his back and chest, about halfway up his ribcage, just above the pectoral muscles but under the armpits. Then add abrasions and lacerations all down his upper arms and shoulders. Throw in a few twisted, dented arm bones. That's pretty much what happened to X in damage because of the shark.

As you can see, there was a lot more of X left undamaged after the shark attack than there was after the Sigma attack. The med techs didn't have to replace all the stuff Light had to. Most of X's body was still more or less intact, they just had to re-attach it. Also, I figure that the MHHQ has a good supply of spare parts on hand for their medical ward to use for their Hunters. All that would be needed was to get the right parts out of storage, bring them down to the OR, assemble them into whatever order they're supposed to go, and attach them into X's systems. Light had a lot more work to do than they did. Which is why he took over a week to fix X while the med techs spent a little less than a day working on him.

Also, Light took so long not only because he had to replace most of X's body, but also because he's, like, a hologram thingy. It's hard for holograms to perform surgery. Either he has mechaniloid drones or robots of some sort in his secret lab to do the physical work for him, or he's got accomplices that know of his existence. Either way, he probably doesn't have an entire team of skilled medical technical surgeons ready and willing to spend over 12 hours straight working on X's body. The MHHQ med ward had an entire OR room jam-packed with technical surgeons all working on X. Any more in there and they would have tripped over each other's feet.

Hope this made it a bit clearer.

**JimVan:**

I'm so glad Alia came across the way I wanted her to. I was sort of afraid she'd come across as creepy-stalker Alia… -- Because X doesn't even know she was there…

Oh, also, anyone else at HQ who heard about X's injuries and waited to learn if he would be all right had to wait in the actual designated waiting room of the med ward. Zero and Axl refused to go there, remember. So, members of the 17th and 0th, as well as others who know X and were worried were wandering in and out of the med ward waiting room in between duties and such. So it wasn't _just_ the main cast members. Those are just the only ones I wrote about.

**Veritech:**

I have no idea what inspired you from my story, but you're very welcome.

**Wedge McCloud:**

Wow, thanks for the praise. I suppose that if I knew of any Rockman/Megaman X fiction contests I could enter this. But I don't. And it probably wouldn't actually win. It has no plot. Just in case you haven't noticed yet, but this story is on a one-way trip to nowhere. I'm leaving actual plotlines, complete with villains and 'teh ebil', for sequels.

Well, I didn't really think the internal communication systems needed explanations and such. I suppose I could do a chapter on them. I'll have to think about it. Thanks for the idea though.

Ah, Douglas. The oft forgotten (but not by me) Hunter Chief Mechanic. I'll put him in, don't you worry. I just haven't had the opportunity yet. But he is going to be in charge of the R&D department as well as the mechanical engineering department, which maintains and builds/repairs the heavy machinery, like vehicles and ride armors, used by the Hunters. So no worries, the green guy won't be left out. Though that information might be cause for Douglas to worry…

So is the fact that Palette apparently works in R&D too… That girl is in there every time I send the boys in X8 into the R&D lab to get those chips developed.

Oh No's!!! What if she's Douglas' replacement!! The horror!

She's even got green themed armor!!!

Good thing there's not a choice for the med ward in the game. If I walked in there and saw Layer instead of Lifesaver… Even though he hasn't been around for ages in the games… (Not since like X-5 I think… Maybe Capcom chucked him after the negative fan reaction from his suspicions of Zero being maverick leading to him and X fighting… or something… Personally, I think that Lifesaver is one of a batch production generation and the suspicious one wasn't the same one that rescued Zero from the shuttle crash site. If I remember the script correctly, when X confronts Zero near the end of X5, when Zero is not maverick, X brought two Lifesavers with him, one suspicious, and one not.)

I don't think I'd mind if Cinnamon was in there. But not Layer. They're spotters, they're supposed to be spotting, not taking chip development lists from the boys when they go to R&D…

Anyway… Enough of that.

This chapter is mainly for fun. So don't try to pick apart Dynamo's motivations behind getting a public access broadcasting show…

However, I would like to know what you think of Dynamo's attitude and speech patterns? Do they fit him? Good? Bad? So-so? Any suggestions for improvements on his character development?

Let me know.

Oh and review please. I lovses the reviewses.

The more reviews I get the more time I spend reading them on the computer (and working on the next chapter) rather than getting X, Zero and Axl killed in X8.

So motivate me peoples!


	11. An Interlude, The Second

**Disclaimer:**

I do not now nor have ever owned Rockman/Megaman X or any of its characters. However, Tanya, and the members of the 17th and 0th units were created by me. Please do not steal my ideas. Thank you.

**Important:**

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

IT'S 2005!!

This chapter is PG and MSPX8. See chapter 10 for explanation.

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**Reploid Anatomy 101 – Interlude, the Second**

** Alternate Uses**

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Rockman X slipped between two much taller, and larger, reploid revelers he had to carefully balance the glasses he was carrying. The crowd was so thick in here that it was hard to take even a single step without bumping, or being bumped, by someone else.

"Ah, excuse me… Sorry… Pardon me…" After much twisting and maneuvering, X finally found himself in a pocket of clear space around a potted fern and breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't spilled anything yet.

"There you are!" a familiar voice cried over the loud dance beat music playing in the background, as a hand clapped down onto his shoulder. X jumped and the liquid in the glasses sloshed dangerously close to the edges.

"Aah! Zero! Be careful would you! I don't want to spill." X turned to face his friend with a small frown.

"Oh. Heh. Sorry. Didn't notice you were carrying." Zero grinned at him. "But, Axl and I've been looking for you. Where have you been, anyway?"

"Trying to grab some drinks before the bar runs out." X explained as he lifted the two glasses in his hands for emphasis.

Zero cocked an eyebrow and grinned. "Didn't realize you were a two fisted drinker."

X flushed. "I'm not!"

"Oh?"

"If you must know, only one is for me."

"Really? How thoughtful! You got me a drink! C'mere you!" Zero grinned and slung his arm around X's shoulders, reaching up with his other hand to ruffle his hair.

"Gah! Cut that out!" X shrugged off Zero's arm and ducked under his ruffling hand. "It's not for _you_!"

"Oh ho! I get it." Zero grinned and nudged X's side. "For a lady, eh?"

"Not like _that_, you nut. For your information, Alia wanted something to propose a toast with, but didn't know where the drinks were. So I said I'd get her one."

Zero grinned. "Well, what are you doing over _here_? I just left Alia over by the couches. It's rude to keep a lady waiting, you know." Zero pointed in a direction tangent to where X had been headed.

X blinked and glanced around before looking up to the ceiling of the Hunter HQ main lobby to try to get his bearings. "Ah jeez. I swear, every Hunter and their cousin must be packed in here. It's a wonder I'm not more turned around." X shook his head ruefully.

"And that my friend, is why we have a little something called GPS. Never go to a big party without it." Zero grinned. "Now come on. Alia's waiting, and Axl was headed that way too."

X sighed and activated his GPS targeting system, linking into the satellite network to pinpoint his location in the building. He turned to face the right direction and sighed again as he regarded the daunting task of maneuvering through the tightly packed mass of bodies that eddied and swirled with currents of motion around them. Zero glanced from his resigned expression to the wall of people and grinned.

"All right! Make way! Coming through!" Zero practically bellowed as he gave X a shove forward before passing him and taking point. X shot him an appalled look that was completely ignored as Zero barreled into the crowd ahead of him. "Watch it! Careful there! Guy on a mission here!"

X groaned and shook his head. However, he was not one to allow an opportunity like this to pass by and slipped into Zero's disturbed wake, apologizing profusely as he went.

In a fraction of the time it had taken X to get from the drink bar to the fern planter where he'd encountered Zero, they found themselves arriving at a cluster of couches near a handful of palm trees in planters.

Alia, wearing a knee-length red dress, sat on one of the three couches beside Tanya, who was wearing a dark green blouse and a black ankle length skirt with a slit up the side. On the adjacent couch, Amber sat between Vixen and Todd. Dyne, Snake, and Tag took up the couch across from Alia and Tanya. Each of the three guys was wearing one of the black top hats that were being circulated throughout the party. Axl, in a dark blue shirt, black slacks, and party top hat, was perched on the arm of the girls' sofa. There was an empty seat left between him and Alia.

"Hey! Look what I found!" Zero grinned brightly as he gestured grandly to X as he came up beside him. "He followed me home. Can I keep him?"

"Moron." X shoved him lightly out of the way as he stepped between the couch Alia and Tanya sat on, and the low table in the center of the couch cluster. Zero grinned cheekily as he hopped up onto the arm of the couch beside Tanya.

"Great! You found him!" Axl grinned as he twisted on his perch to face X and Zero.

X handed one of the glasses to Alia. "Here, Alia. Sorry it took so long."

"It's okay. You made it back with time to spare." Alia smiled up at him as she accepted the glass.

"So," X straightened up and turned to Axl, "why were you looking for me?"

"Didn't you hear?" Dyne asked. "We're not going to have the finale this time. Can you believe that?"

"Yeah," Snake added. "Signas cancelled at the last minute because of the storm." He gestured to the glass windows that made up the outer wall of the lobby. The night sky beyond, and the storm clouds that covered it, could barely be seen through the driving streaks of rain. Snake shook his head. "What a time for the weather control system to have a spastic malfunction."

"I'd blame mavericks, but I can't think of any that would be petty enough to hack the system just to rain out our party." Tag shook his head.

"Yeah, I heard. It's a shame. We hired a crack team this year to put things together. But, what can you do? This storm isn't going to let up until at least morning, according to the report the weather system supervisor sent us. It's just not a priority tonight, it's not doing any real harm." X shrugged as he sat down on the couch beside Alia.

"Ah! But that's where you're wrong, X. You see, I had an idea." Axl grinned.

X raised an eyebrow at the younger reploid. "Really?"

"Yup, just wait till you hear it." Axl grinned.

"I'm all ears. What were you thinking?"

"Well, since we can't do anything _outside_ because of the storm, I was thinking we should have it inside this year."

"You're kidding."

"Huh? No. I'm serious."

"You want to have it inside. As in, in the _lobby_?"

"Awesome! That's a great idea!" Dyne grinned.

"Yup! What do you think, X? Will you do it?"

"Axl, we can't just… Wait… what do you mean 'will _I_ do it?'"

"Well, of course we're not going to use the normal stuff. Can you imagine the chaos having the real thing inside would cause? So, I was thinking, you could, you know… put on your gauntlets and make with the sparklies." Axl grinned.

"Axl," X sighed in exasperation, "don't you think my opening fire, even straight up into the air, would cause even more chaos and panic? Half the people here are probably drunk enough to think there's an attack."

"Not like that, X. I meant with your flower power."

"My…?" X paused and shook his head. "Axl, regardless of how it looks, it's still a weapon. You know that." X sighed.

"Aw, come on X. It's not like anybody will get hurt. You can set the power especially low. It won't even tickle if someone gets hit." Zero chimed in.

"That's not the point. It's not a toy, you know."

"We know. But, you gotta admit, it would be cool." Axl grinned. "Come on, X. Please. Zero's right. With the maximum power level set low enough, it'll just be an awesome light show."

X frowned at Axl and Zero. "Then why don't you just use yours if you're so confident."

"Because mine isn't nearly so pretty." Axl grinned impishly.

X scowled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Plus, a big honkin laser light shaft can't exactly be mistaken for anything except an attack." Zero added with a smirk.

"Come on, X. It won't hurt to fire off a couple of extra-low powered shots. Besides, it just isn't the same unless something goes boom." Dyne grinned cajolingly across at him.

"You can drop the power to harmless levels, right, X?" Tanya asked as she leaned around Alia. "I'd actually kind of like to see it. Not every day you get to see something like that, you know."

"Well, yes, I can, but…"

Tanya leaned back and surreptitiously eyed X from the corner of her half lidded eyes. Time to bring out the big guns. "You know, Alia and I were really disappointed that the show was cancelled. Ally was really looking forward to it."

X blinked. "You were?"

"W-well yeah." Alia flushed slightly and shot Tanya a look, which went ignored. "But that's okay. I mean, it's not anything I haven't seen before, you know."

"Aw don't be so modest. You love the displays. You were really looking forward to seeing this years'."

"Ah, no, it's okay, really. I mean… If X doesn't want to…" Alia flushed as she replied.

X frowned slightly, then sighed and shook his head. "No, it's okay. Zero's right, I can drop the power output to harmless levels. It would just be a light show like Axl said. And, honestly, I was going to miss the display myself." X glanced over at Axl. "But, you owe me for this Axl. Don't expect this every year."

Axl grinned and nodded. "Course not. This is a special circumstance. We'll do things the ordinary way next year."

X nodded and stood up, then paused as Alia caught his forearm. He glanced down at her questioningly.

"X… You sure?"

"Yeah." X smiled slightly down at her. "It's okay."

Alia released his arm as he straightened up and extended his arms out in front of him at waist level as he closed his eyes in concentration. The familiar crackle of teleportation energy arced across his forearms as a white nimbus of energies formed and obscured them from view. An instant later and the nimbus faded away, revealing the red and white of the Icarus gauntlets.

X opened his eyes and glanced over at Axl. "So when exactly did you want me to do this?"

"We've got about five minutes." Axl grinned.

X nodded, "Plenty of time." He closed his eyes and cocked his head slightly to the side as he accessed his internal weapons system controls to alter the power output and activate the proper weapons code. Because he was wearing just the gauntlets, there was no visible change as he activated the appropriate weapons code. It took X another minute to properly adjust the power output level to one percent of normal. At that level, even the charged shot would only be strong enough to cause a tingling sensation, similar to static cling. Once he was done, he opened his eyes.

"All set?" Zero asked.

"Yep, just waiting for my cue." X smiled as he sat down again.

"Awesome!" Axl grinned. "This is going to be great!"

"Just remember, you owe me for this." X added sternly.

"No sweat." Axl grinned.

"We've got two minutes to go. Everyone got their drinks?" Tanya glanced around. In reply, everyone seated on the couches lifted up their glasses except Zero, who suddenly realized he was without.

"Aw man, I was going to get another while looking for X, but I found him too soon."

"You'll never make it to the bar and back in time." Todd shook his head regretfully.

"Unless you used your Dash systems…" Snake put in helpfully.

"Oh no you don't, Zero. Last time you used Dash during a party you knocked at least twenty people down. Signas nearly had kittens." X scowled at him.

"I'd pay to see that." Snake grinned.

"Here, gimme your glass." Axl held out his hand. Zero snagged his empty glass, which he'd left on the table before he'd left to find X, and passed it over. "You can have some of mine to toast with." Axl tipped his own untouched glass over and poured half into Zero's. "There, but don't drink it beforehand." Axl passed it back to Zero.

"Thanks." Zero grinned as he accepted it. Just then a chorus of cheers and shouts rang out across the lobby. Everyone turned their heads to face the inside wall of the lobby where a large vidscreen had been secured between two balconies that overlooked the lobby floor.

The displayed image had shifted from various assorted feeds, live and pre-recorded, from around the planet, to a massive digital clock, counting down. The numbers had just gone into the seconds.

Everyone stood up from the couches and avidly watched the screen as the initial cheers from the surrounding crowd died away. An expectant hush filled the room.

As the count hit ten seconds a new collective shout went up.

"TEN!"

"NINE!"

"EIGHT!"

"SEVEN!"

"SIX!"

"FIVE!"

"FOUR!"

"THREE!"

"TWO!"

"ONE!"

And then the real cheering began as champagne glasses were lifted high in a toast.

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!" 

Wild cheering and whooping filled the Hunter's main lobby and echoed off the high ceiling and walls. Explosions of streamer poppers filled the air as confetti was pitched off the higher balcony levels by revelers and tossed into the air by others on the ground. Couples all around kissed and hugged or shared champagne.

Axl leaped up and balanced on the arm of the sofa and whooped, tossing his new years top hat into the air. Todd blushed pink as Amber threw her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek. Vixen tossed back her head and let loose with a vulpine howl. Dyne and Snake had linked arms and were dancing a jig around each other on the tabletop, waving their top hats over their heads with their free arms. Tag was busy tipping back his glass.

Tanya gave a shriek of surprise as Zero suddenly scooped her off her feet and swung her around in a circle before setting her back down with a grin. "What was that for!" she gasped as she swatted his shoulder.

Zero grinned. "You were the closest girl. Would you prefer a New Year's kiss?"

Tanya laughed. "No thanks, Casanova. A one night's spin is enough for me."

Just then, a loud brief thrum of power, rather like the boom of an explosion, echoed across the room. It was followed immediately by a high-pitched wail, similar to that of a fireworks rocket, which cut through the revelry. Heads all over turned to track a streak of rainbow-hued, sparkling light that rocketed straight up into the air. Even before the first had reached the apex of it's flight, five more followed it up, each in a different trajectory to form a half-arc above the crowd. About 20 feet up, the first reached the apex of its flight and abruptly exploded with a resounding boom into eight similar balls of light, each shot out from the central ring of rainbow light in a different direction. The other five original shots also each exploded into a starburst array.

X mentally adjusted his snap release speed to get a bit more distance per shot. He brought his hands around and up to clap them together above his head. The solar energy coalesced with a loud sharp thrum of rapid power accumulation between his slightly cupped palms into a ball of rainbow light. Then X snapped his hands and arms apart and down to release the ball. The rainbow light shot out in a straight line above his head. He followed that with two more, slightly to either side. These three shots reached nearly thirty feet in height, while the last of the previous round were still fading from view, before exploding in three more starbursts.

A couple more rounds later and X decided to toss in a finale shot. He set the gauntlet's to charge to the maximum he had set it to earlier, which wasn't much at all. Because the power level desired was so low, it took just an instant longer than a normal shot to ready a charged shot. This allowed X to fire off three charged shots in rapid succession.

This time, four starbursts exploded for every original shot fired, resulting in a total of twelve starbursts of rainbow light over the cheering crowd. As X grinned at the sight of his finale and lowered his arms, he felt hands slip around his right elbow. Blinking in surprise he turned to meet Alia's gaze.

"Thank you, X." Alia smiled up at him from where she leaned slightly against his shoulder. "It really is awesome." She smiled as she turned her gaze up to the last of the rapid starbursts.

X laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his head with his left hand. "Yeah. I guess Shining Ray really does make pretty good substitute fireworks."

Alia smiled at him and lightly hugged his arm to her. "Happy New Year, X."

X smiled back. "Happy New Year, Alia."

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The End

Owari

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This chapter was totally unexpected…

I came up with the idea last night, in the car, on the way to a New Year's Party my brother's girlfriend's family was throwing.

Also, blame me for beating Optic Sunflower in X8 and discovering that X's Shining Ray weapon was glorified fireworks…

It does work, when you can hit stuff with it, but it's not as spectacularly destructive looking as Zero's or Axl's flower power weapons.

Zero gets this gigantic laser ray of death from space or something.

Axl gets a laser beam gun (when you hold the button down for rapid fire it looks like an unbroken ray of lasery death).

And X gets a starburst rainbow fireworks display he gets to toss over his head…

Come on, how could I leave that alone on New Years? (Time of massive fireworks bonanzas all across the globe.)

X's bodysuit is the only thing that changes color with the special weapons choice when using his various armors, the solid armor pieces stay their original colors as far as I can tell. (I only have one armor piece to go with the Neutral Armor, which is the Icarus buster.) Only with standard blue armor X does his whole blue armor color shift.

ESPECIALLY SPOILERISH

I'd like to thank Warde for pointing out that I missed some of X's armors from X8 when I wrote that list. So, now he officially also has the Icarus and Hermes, as well as Neutral, in my fics. Er, I still don't know everything they do… Oh well.

I'd also like to note that Dark Mantis was a pushover compared to the Flower Power guy. And Vile was almost a disappointment considering how much hype people give him for being badass. Axl totally owned him with his happy sunshine laser gun.

END SPOILERISH

I'd like to thank Vic Viper as well as Warde for their assistance in trying to help me figure out X's armor color changes better. I'm still working on it. But you both helped clear some thoughts up for me.

You will all be happy to know that I've come up with another idea, and have written the technical side out already. Since this will be chapter 11, this new idea will be chapter 13. 12 is already slated to a previous idea.

**Reviewer Responses:**

**PRIVATE:**

I believe X8 came out on December 7th in America. I'm not sure about any other countries.

Actually, I think most reploids, such as X, Zero, and Axl have the jewels in their helmets and not on their actual heads. Sigma seems to have one actually in his forehead though. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's a fashion statement…

(If you want a serious answer, I'll need more time and thought.)

I'm kind of disregarding the whole MMZ series because I don't like it when X dies…

However, if I was to take a stab at why Zero's body changed so dramatically, I'll also be giving a spoiler for one of the games. (I don't remember which one it was though.)

Either his body changed because the art style changed and he actually still looks the same, we just view him differently; or, two other possibilities.

The spoiler one is that the body Zero uses in MMZ and onwards is not the original Zero body. It's a copy someone made and either also copied Zero's mind/soul/etc into it or transferred him into it.

The non-spoiler reason is that over the years since X8 and before Zero stuck himself into the time capsule he underwent major reconstructive upgrades. From what I came up with, the body of a reploid can be upgraded and changed according to the reploid's desires, assuming they have the money to pay for the alterations. As long as the neural matrix inside the skull casing remains intact and connected to the generator core, the rest of the systems can be replaced or new ones added on. Total body overhauls are not only expensive, but also contain some risk because it requires removing the neural matrix and plasma generator and re-installing it in another body.

**SR71will, ravenf6, shadowneko003**

I honestly didn't plan out a retribution for the broadcast. Dynamo's kind of the type who gets away with things by being sneaky, underhanded, and running away to snark again another day. I suppose I could try to come up with fitting vengeance…

Oh, and shadowneko003, just in case you aren't being sarcastic when you call him a professor, I just want to clarify that Dynamo is not in any way a professor of anything. He has no PhD or any sort of doctorate, and I doubt he has a college diploma of any kind. I also doubt he has a High School Diploma. (I honestly can't see him getting a certificate of graduation from elementary school either…)

**Hayvel, former bringer of DOOM**

(and apparent master of the understated review)

I went over this a bit in the technical part of chapter 6. You might want to take another look at that.

Essentially, the maverick virus isn't affected by power failures to the neural matrix or memory wipes. Plus, the mavericks in charge don't really care about the whole 'resurrecting is bad because they go crazy' thing.

As for reploid children… They don't grow up in form unless they get major upgrades and overhauls of body size/type. They do grow up mentally, although they would otherwise retain their child body/voice without the upgrades. If you've ever seen 'Interview with a Vampire', there's a little girl in the movie (whose name I don't remember) who is turned into a vampire. She stays a little girl for the rest of her existence, which is (I think) over a hundred years. So a child reploid would kind of be like that, except without the vampirism…

**windwingxs:**

I don't know that they actually hooked up in the game. In that scene you mention (the only one I've seen so far that potentially implied any such thing) Zero was kind of 'huh? Oh yeah, you exist.' Layer definitely had it bad, but who's to say how many other hunter girls have it bad for him but don't get noticed (or showcased, in this instance)? His tone of voice and choice of words when addressing her didn't really indicate that he liked her as a girlfriend. (To me, at least.) I kind of got the impression he has almost no idea of who she is besides being a new technical spotter.

**Rena-chan:**

I actually think Palette might be one of the reploids built to look like a child. She has a very young (prepubescent) face, and her body type is also that of a prepubescent, or just beginning puberty, girl. Her chest is almost flat from what I can tell and her curves are not well defined. Only her mental age is much older, so she left whatever child-oriented work she started in and joined the Hunters, wanting to work in a more mature field.

Her voice is still annoying though. And the baby doll face and very flat, and close to the skull, hair is very creepyish.

Yes, Optic Sunflower is a guy. The voice sounds like a nasal woman's voice, though. But X, Axl, and Zero all refer to Optic as 'he.' So maybe he's one of those asexual reploids that decided to be 'male' (despite the femininish voice) that I wrote about in chapter three.

I think they put random animal, plant, scientific, elemental, and technological words in a big hat. Shake it up. And have a trained monkey pull out the pieces and match them up to get the maverick names.

Either that, or they have a guy locked in the corporate basement, chained to a typewriter, who comes up with very bad puns on animal and plant names.

Seizure Monkey – gives off vivid, bright, rapidly changing flashes of colored light that cause epileptic fits in the gamer, allowing the Monkey to easily defeat X, Zero, and Axl by throwing psychedelic-hued banana peels at them…

Ah well, that's all for the replies.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it (from about 2:40 am to nearly 7am… I still enjoyed writing it… I'm weird that way…)

Tell me what you think.

I'm a little sleepy right now, so I'll just finish up with this.

Hope everyone had a happy, and safe New Year's Eve.

Till next time.


	12. Teleportation System

**Disclaimer:**

Rockman/Megaman X and all it's characters do not belong to me. All original characters used in this fic; however, do. Please don't steal them.

**Important:**

This chapter is rated PG and MSPX8 because I say so. Mild cursing, sporadic use of violence, blood (sort of).

I'd like to thank Bobcat Moran for inspiration for this chapter. You know what for. Let's all hope Zero is never put in charge of her class. (I think they'd probably take over the world.)

I'd also like to thank Ginrei for asking for some scenes where X is just happy and relaxed. The first scene is for you, Ginrei. :D

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**Reploid Anatomy 101** – **Teleportation System**

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_Fast as a speeding teleport beam, more powerful than 65 rampaging Mavericks. It's…_

_ …Particle man, particle man. Doing the things a particle can. Is he a dot, or is he a speck? When he's underwater, does he get wet? Or does the water get him instead?_

A satellite network of teleportation transponders controls and directs teleportations. The network of satellites works together to coordinate and accommodate all incoming and outgoing teleportations. Each satellite covers a grid segment of territory on the Earth's surface. Teleportation coordinates consist of the specific grid designation and location coordinates in the x, y, and z vectors. Underground, and basement coordinates, assuming they are not so deep as to obstruct or corrupt the teleportation signal, are achieved through use of negative coordinates.

Living complex organics such as humans and animals cannot yet be safely translated into teleportation signals. The bio-chemical and bioelectric brain waves and signals cannot maintain cohesion during the matter-energy conversion process. Any living organism sent through a teleportation signal re-materializes as dead or with severe permanent brain damage. So far, only reploids and non-living items can be safely sent through teleportation.

When a reploid, or equipment teleportation takes place, the teleportation matter-energy converter translates the reploid, as well as anything within the specified range of the teleportation generator's field, into an energy data stream. The stream is made up of the matter-energy data that composes the reploid or items being teleported, the destination coordinates, the origin coordinates, and any number of additional data codes that instruct the satellites to perform various actions when dealing with the teleport signal.

This stream gives off energy in the visible light spectrum in the first and last stages of the teleportation process. The energy beam rapidly modulates into the invisible spectrum of light as it's sent to the satellite corresponding to the grid of origin. Because the beam is made out of slightly phased energy, it is capable of passing through solid objects of reasonable density and size, much like a radio signal can pass through walls, unless they are made of especially thick or non-conductive material.

The teleportation signal is sent to the satellite in charge of the grid the teleportation originated from. The satellite then relays the signal along to the desired grid satellite, which then sends the signal to the designated coordinates for re-materialization. If the reploid is teleporting to another location in the same grid, the satellite will send the signal to the designated coordinates without sending it along to any other satellites.

Every satellite has a large data buffer to temporarily store incoming teleportation signals should it already be dealing with another signal. If the memory buffer is at capacity, any incoming teleportation signals will be bounced immediately to the main teleportation terminal for the overbooked satellite grid. Signals are dealt with in order of arrival, unless a priority code is added to the teleportation beam signal. There are a multitude of various priority levels. Most civilian or private teleports do not use priority codes.

If one of the network satellites malfunctions or is destroyed, the rest of the network will detect its absence through the data network the satellites share. Signals that would have routed through the offline satellite will be redirected around the gap in the network, unless the unresponsive satellite was the destination of the signal. In that case, the first satellite, which borders the downed grid that the signal reaches, will redirect the signal to the main teleportation terminal for its grid. An unavailable destination code will be added to the signal that the terminal will recognize and direct the incoming teleport to one of the unused teleport pads reserved for such interrupted teleportations. Because initializing a teleport requires a direct data link to the teleportation satellite in charge of the grid of origin, if that satellite is offline, the teleportation system delivers an 'unable to establish connection' message to its operator.

Safe teleportation requires multiple calculations and prior knowledge of available space and locations for re-materialization. Should the signal materialize in a space already occupied by another object, the results would be devastating. Most teleportation generator units must be programmed to acknowledge and identify locations that are available for re-materialization and maintain a running list in their memory banks. Only the most sophisticated and expensive personal teleporter units are equipped to interface with and use real time satellite targeting to locate available materialization locations.

Most civilian reploids, and companies that use teleporters for shipping, prefer to rely on stationary teleportation terminals rather than personal units. Every grid has public teleportation terminals. The main terminal is usually the largest and serves as the bounce-in point for interrupted teleport signals. These public terminals often serve the same purpose for reploids as an airport serves for humans. The teleportation terminals have also taken on most of the public, non-organic shipping services. Companies, and organizations, wealthy enough can afford to have their own teleportation terminals installed for company use. These are protected from intrusion with teleportation shield generators.

Teleportation shield generators create a field effect that can scatter or bounce the incoming teleportation signals. Shield generators come in varying power levels. The weakest generators can only bounce the incoming signals to the central grid terminal while adding a code to the signal that the central terminal will recognize. The terminal control will direct the signal to one of the holding room teleport pads. From there, the terminal security forces can alert the proper authorities about the attempted break in and take the reploids into custody. Unauthorized outgoing signals, originating from within a shield, are bounced back to the originating coordinates.

These bounce field generators are available for private purchase with the proper documents and permits from the government. However, they will not protect against all teleportation intrusions. A signal from a particularly strong teleportation generator can breach these weaker fields. The stronger the teleporter unit's generator, the stronger and more cohesive the teleportation signal is.

The scattering field generators are much more powerful and effective in preventing unwanted teleportation intrusions. However, these fields cause the teleportation signal to destabilize and result in the destruction of whatever was attempting to teleport through the shielding field. Therefore, these are only available to government and government-sanctioned organizations such as the Maverick Hunters. The more powerful the field generator, the more powerful the shield is.

For a teleportation signal to safely pass through a field scrambler or bounce shield, a pass code must be attached to the signal. Every shield generator can be programmed to accept pass codes once activated. Only authorized personnel, that the shield generator is programmed to recognize and accept, can change these passwords. Without the proper pass code attached to the teleportation signal, nothing can teleport in or out of the shield.

Teleportation signals cannot reach every location on the planet. There are many locations that are either shielded or blocked from teleportation signals and others that are off limits due to safety issues. Places with high public traffic are off limits due to safety issues except in cases of emergency. Only the most sophisticated teleportation units would be able to interface with satellite targeting systems to accurately and safely calculate re-materialization coordinates in a place with lots of people or vehicles. Such advanced units are normally only available to the military. Any teleportation attempt into a busy location such as a city street or mall would be tantamount to suicide without the accuracy of a powerful teleportation unit. Even then, the calculations could be off, or an unexpected variable of pedestrian or vehicle movement could throw off the calculations.

Teleportation signal blocks usually occur due to the locations being far underground or in a location where satellite signals are especially weakened or blocked. However, it is possible to teleport into water, provided the location is not so deep as to degrade or block the teleportation signal. The re-materialization field energy vaporizes the water at the target location, creating a pocket of empty air for the teleporting reploid or item to safely materialize within. Teleporting out from an underwater location is also possible, though likely to bring a quantity of the surrounding water along with the reploid.

Highly sophisticated and powerful stationary teleportation terminals are capable of long-distance teleportations. These are used for emergency evacuation teleports, normally of military reploid units. The stationary unit uses the real time satellite targeting system to locate the coordinates of the object or reploid to be teleported. The terminal generates a boomerang-type teleportation signal. The signal travels to the designated coordinates and then re-materializes as a teleportation field. This field then converts the contents of the coordinate location into a teleportation beam and sends itself and its contents back to the stationary terminal of origin. These emergency teleportation terminals are very expensive and are only issued to the military and government sanctioned organizations for medical and emergency evacuation use.

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Alia wandered leisurely between the tall trees that rose to either side. Bright afternoon sunlight streamed through the leaf filled branches high above, casting scattered dapples of light that shifted across the shaded ground and over Alia's body. A cool, early summer breeze sent the leaves rustling in counterpoint to her nearly silent footsteps as she strolled through the grass. Alia reached up to brush the loose strands of her hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear where the wind couldn't play with it.

Alia smiled to herself as she continued her walk through the small forest. It was a gorgeous day to be out here. She had no destination in mind, and no where to be for hours. The afternoon was hers.

Alia had left the path some time ago to wander through the less frequented forested and grassy areas. It always amazed her how tranquil and secluded much of the Maverick Hunter HQ Compound Gardens were, despite being located mere minutes from the constant bustle of the city.

The Hunter Gardens sprawled across the compound, between the building complexes, parking lots, and training fields. Various landscapes were designed throughout the compound, from small forests to a Zen rock garden, and even a rose garden in the center of a hedge maze. Aside from being designed to provide natural beauty regardless of the season, the gardens were a source of pride and relaxation for the Hunters. The gardens were open to all Hunter personnel and any guests cleared and permitted beyond the base gates. It was often a lot easier to have a picnic or get a soccer game together in the base gardens than at one of the city parks.

Every now and then, Alia felt the need to slip away from the crowds and indulge in the tranquility of the more secluded sections of the gardens. Today was one such time, especially considering that Zero had somehow managed to get temporary command of the latest new recruit unit for combat training. Usually, the smartest thing to do was to put some distance between oneself and that particular disaster-in-the-making.

The ground began gently sloping down as Alia came upon the end of the forested area. The forest edge curved in a half-moon arc in this location, following the upper curve of a grassy hillside that sloped down and away from the woods to a small brook. The far bank of the stream rose up into another grass-covered hill. This hill was shorter than the one Alia stood on, and she could see down onto the crown of the hill as she stepped out from between two trees.

As the light breeze teased Alia's hair out from behind her ear, she noticed that there was someone else already enjoying the solitude here. Lying stretched out on the side of the grassy hill across the stream was a slender male form. His right side profile was to Alia; however, from that angle, the grass obscured his features.

Alia hesitated and then turned to leave. She didn't want to disturb the other person, especially since it looked like he was taking a nap. However, before she did so, she paused and glanced back, a small frown furrowing her brow. The man was wearing blue jeans and a black t-shirt, but it was the dark blue and white sneakers that caught her attention.

She knew those sneakers. Not surprisingly, considering she had bought them for him as a joke. Yet, he insisted on wearing them, even though she knew he had been horribly embarrassed about the entire endorsement deal. Alia smiled to herself. Honestly, though, how could she have resisted the opportunity to get Rockman X a pair of X Sneakers. As far as Alia knew, no one else on base had a pair with that particular color combination.

Alia extended her sensor range out in front of her and had her suspicions confirmed as she easily picked up and identified X's unique energy signature. Alia grinned slightly. Looks like she wasn't the only one hiding from the combined terror of Zero and the entire horde of rookies.

With a small smile, Alia started down the hill. She leapt agilely over the small stream and climbed to the crest of the hill. When she looked down at X lying near the top of the slope, she realized that he was not napping as she had assumed. X was stretched languidly out on the grass, arms folded behind his head. His eyes were open, but half-lidded, as he gazed up into the sky. A small smile lingered lightly on his lips.

Alia followed his gaze, but there was nothing out of the ordinary to see. Fluffy white clouds drifted lazily across the blue expanse above. Alia couldn't even spot any birds above them.

A slightly stronger gust of wind sent the grass rippling in waves as the trees beyond the stream rustled in time with the ripples. Alia's blond hair was blown forward across her face as the wind caught X's black hair and tousled it even worse than it usually was. Alia stepped down from the crown of the hill to stand beside X's left shoulder. She crouched down and sat on the hillside beside him, stretching her legs out down slope as she tucked her hair back behind her ears.

Alia glanced over at X. He was still gazing skyward. She leaned back and braced herself with her arms behind her as she joined him in gazing at the heavens. After a short while of easy, companionable silence, Alia sat up slightly and ventured the question.

"So, what are we looking at?"

"Mmm. The clouds." X smiled.

"Really?" Alia leaned back and looked up at the white clouds that drifted slowly by high above.

"Mmm."

Alia laughed lightly. "You know, if I ever told anyone, who didn't know you, that Rockman X spent his afternoons watching the clouds sail by, I'd be laughed out of the district."

X chuckled. "Well, it's true. You caught me." X grinned. "I confess. I like to try to make out shapes in the clouds."

"Really?" Alia leaned back her head and looked up into the sky.

X turned his head to look at Alia sitting beside him and smiled. "Yeah."

"So, do you see anything that you like?" Alia asked, still looking up to the clouds above.

"Yeah…" X smiled secretly.

"… So… What do you see up there?" Alia turned to regard him in curiosity.

"Huh?" X snapped his gaze up to Alia's face. "Oh, uh… all kinds of things."

"Really? Like what?" Alia turned back to look up at the clouds. "Point some out to me."

"Oh, you know, different things… Everyone seems to see something different, anyway." X shrugged his shoulders lightly against the grassy ground.

"I know… But I want to know what you see." Alia turned and smiled down at him.

X smiled and raised an eyebrow. "Don't you want to find your own pictures?"

Alia laughed and shook her head. "You know I've never been all that great with this kind of thing."

"Sure you have. You've got a great imagination, Alia."

"No, I don't. I'm terrible with imagining things." Alia shook her head. "I'm always more confident when I've got definite facts to work with."

"Oh, don't be that way, Alia. Your imagination is wonderful. You just don't let yourself listen to it enough. Come on. Hmm? Just relax and lay back. Stretch your wings a bit. I'll bet you can fly." X grinned up at her.

Alia laughed as she scooted down and lay back against the grassy hill beside him. "Silly, I don't have wings, you know."

"It's a figure of speech. Silly." X grinned back.

"You'll see. I'm awful at this."

"No you aren't. It's easy. Just let out the first thing that comes to mind." X smiled and turned his face back to the sky. "So, what do you see?"

Alia turned her head to regard his profile. She smiled. "Something nice."

X chuckled. "It is. But try for something more specific." X turned his head to regard her and blinked to find her looking at him.

Alia flushed slightly and turned back to the sky. "Right. Um…" Alia pointed. "That one sort of looks like a marshmallow…"

"Aw, come on. You're not even trying." X laughed and unfolded his arms to nudge her side lightly with his elbow.

"All right. All right. But you have to tell me what you see up there too. Okay?"

"Deal. You go first though."

"Okay. Let's see…"

"Just let your thoughts wander. Pick whatever comes into your mind."

"Hmm… Oh! That one… No, never mind…"

"No, go on. What did you see?"

"Well… Um… It's silly, really. It doesn't look anything like him at all…"

"Oh come on, give."

"No. No. He'd kill me if he found out." Alia shook her head adamantly.

"Oh? Now you've got my curiosity up." X grinned and turned, propping himself onto his elbow to regard her. "Come on, spill. I'm sure it's not as bad as you think."

"Well… See that one over there? With the sort of streak and the round bulge on top."

"Yeah?" X turned slightly to regard the cloud.

"Um… I kind of… thought it looked something kind of like… Zero…" Alia shrugged sheepishly.

X rolled back over fully onto his back to get a better look. He twisted his head to the side and even squinted. "Has it changed much since you thought that?"

"No. Why?"

"I'm not sure I see Zero in that cloud… It doesn't really look all that much like him."

"See, I told you I stunk at this." Alia hmphed and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Ah! No. I didn't mean it that way. It's just that I see something different."

"Oh? What do you see?"

"Er… It looks kind of like a duck…"

"A duck?"

"…With a sword…"

Alia burst out laughing and rolled over to face him, clutching her belly. "A _duck_ with a_ sword_!"

"What? _You_ saw _Zero_. Your imagination is just as wild as mine. I don't see how it looks anything like him." X countered.

"Well… Um… I didn't want to say it earlier… I thought it was too silly… But after that duck…" Alia grinned and shook her head slightly.

"Oh? What do you mean?"

"Well… It only _really_ looks like Zero… if he was bald."

X blinked and turned to regard the cloud. Then he blinked again. X suddenly burst out laughing. "Oh my god! You're right! It does look like Zero!" They both dissolved into laughter at that.

"Oh! Oh. He'd kill us if he knew." Alia snickered, clutching her belly as her laughter died down to giggles.

"Then let's not tell him." X grinned.

Alia laughed. "Deal, but I think I'm going to record the image in my long term memory. Just in case, you know." She winked at X.

X tossed back his head and laughed. "See. I told you, you have a great imagination." X grinned as he wiped tears of mirth from the corners of his eyes.

Alia chuckled as they settled back onto the grassy hillside, their shoulders just touching. She tilted her head slightly toward X's shoulder and smiled. "This is fun. I like it."

"I know." X smiled as he tipped his head to catch her eye with his. "We should do this more often."

"Mmm." Alia smiled and shifted slightly closer, her rose-pink, blouse sleeve brushing lightly against his arm.

"Alia…"

"Hmm?"

Anything else that might have been said or done was a moot point, considering it was just about then that the base-wide alarm klaxon shattered the tranquility of the afternoon.

Alia sat bolt upright in shock, just as a flock of sparrows was startled into the air from the forest to their right. X scrambled to a defensive crouch, all his scanners activating and stretching to the limits of his sensor range as he went into full battle alert, a grim look on his face.

Alia turned to him, her eyes wide in shock as she recognized the alarm frequency and pattern. "X, that's th-the…"

"Invasion alert. I know."

"B-but that's impossible! The shields, the security systems, the perimeter surveillance and defenses, a maverick attack force couldn't possibly get into the base to warrant this alarm sequence unless it was an entire army! And we'd have had plenty of advance warning if there was a maverick army on the move!"

X nodded grimly. "Agreed. But someone set off the alarm for a reason."

"You don't suppose it's a drill?" Alia started to get to her feet to take a better look around.

X reached out and caught her hand, pulling her back down beside him. "Stay low. We can't take that chance. Even if it's just a surprise drill, let's give a good showing, shall we?" He smiled reassuringly at her.

Alia nodded hesitantly back, and then took a steadying breath before nodding firmly. "You're right." She activated her personal teleportation unit and summoned her armor in a crackle of energies. "Let's."

X nodded and was clad in his own standard blue X-armor a second later. "I'm not picking anything up in our immediate vicinity. Can you patch into the central base computers?"

Alia nodded as she activated the computer data-link headset she wore in place of a helmet. In seconds she had established a link with the main computer system and began pinpointing the current base alert.

While she worked to isolate the location the alarm was triggered from, as well as any security information on the nature and number of the intruders, X activated his comm. system and opened a direct channel to Signas.

"Signas, this is X. What's going on?"

"Wish I knew, X. I just arrived at the Command Center a moment ago, but from the Intel I've received, no one seems to know anything beyond the alarm going off. The data techs are working on locating where the alarm was triggered. The techs are still running analysis on the compound perimeter shielding. However, diagnostics indicate that the main complex shields are still fully functional. If the hostiles managed to bypass the perimeter shields and teleport onto the base, they didn't jump straight into the main complex. We've got four combat-ready units stationed on base at the moment, not including the 17th. The rest are out on assignment or off-duty. The 14th is already moving to secure the sub levels of the main complex. The 7th just got into the air and are securing the perimeter, as well as searching for the hostiles. The 1st is securing the secondary buildings and assisting security at the base gates. I just finished dispatching the 9th to search and secure the grounds. The 23rd and the 15th have been recalled, but I want the 17th to secure the above ground main complex. Anyone trying to get in or out of the building will have to go through your people. Stay in touch. I'll inform you once we know more."

"Roger. I'm on it."

X signed off Signas' communications channel and turned to Alia. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration, but slightly unfocused, as she searched the main computer system for any information regarding the invasion forces. X's scanners still showed no sign of danger in their vicinity. He switched comm. frequencies and established contact with his unit.

"17th, this is X, all squads report."

"Mara here, squads 1 through 5, present and accounted for. We're in the main complex, Training Room 18."

"Echo here, squad 8 present and accounted for. We're in the main Mech garage."

"Radian here, squad 6 present and accounted for. We're in the main complex in Data Tech."

"This is Meridian. 7th here. We're on patrol over South Sector, grid R26. What's going on?"

"Amber here, squad 10 present and accounted for, except for Hassen and Drey. They left an hour ago to visit the commissary. The rest of us are in our rec room."

"Todd. The 9th's on leave this weekend. I think Dillan, Trekker, and Ikaterina are still on base though. What's up? Wait a second. Is that…? No way! Is that the Invasion alarm? What the hell is going on back there?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. It just went off a moment ago. Amber, locate Hassen and Drey and rendezvous with Radian. Radian, secure Data Tech. If this is some sort of theft, we need to make sure they don't get what they came for. Echo, assist Douglas in securing the garage complex until the 1st arrives to relieve you and then meet up with Mara. Meridian, teleport back, but just outside the perimeter shielding range. If it's been tampered with… I don't want anyone teleporting through it till we know for sure. I want you to do a fly-over then secure the main complex roof. Report back. Snake, take squad 4 and assist security in guarding the Command Center. Report on the situation when you get there. Mara, take the others and secure the central complex main entrances. Todd, contact your people. Have any still on base rendezvous with Snake. Anyone off-base that you can get a hold of; find out what the situation is off base. If this is some sort of diversion, we need to know what for."

"Roger."

"Okay."

"Got it."

"On our way."

"Yes sir."

"Be careful, everyone." X signed off of the 17th's channel and glanced over to meet Alia's eyes. "Find anything?"

Alia shook her head. "No. No sign of the hostiles. I'm also having trouble pinpointing the origin of the alarm. The records indicate the alert was triggered from inside the main complex, but there's no indication of any intruders inside the building. If the invading force were already inside the main building, more than just one person would have encountered them and triggered the alert."

X frowned. "Unless the force is strong enough to take out any witnesses before they can activate the signal."

"If that were so, surely people inside the building would have heard the weapons fire by now?"

X scowled. "Good point. This makes no sense. We need to know exactly where in the building the origin point is."

Alia nodded. "The system is still working on isolating the signal point. It's been narrowed down to inside the main complex. However, if a hacker is involved with the invasion, the tracing system could have been tampered with to buy time."

"Agreed. Either way, we can't afford to assume the invading hostiles are still at the origin point. I've contacted Signas and the 17th. They're having similar difficulties locating the hostiles from the Command Center. The 17th has been ordered to secure the aboveground main complex."

"Then you need to join them. I'm not much good when it comes to combat, anyway. I'll keep in touch with you from here and update you on the situation as soon as I learn anything from the base systems."

"But-" X started when Alia cut him off.

"I should be safe enough out here, so long as I keep my head down." Alia smiled slightly. "Go. I'll be fine. There's nothing in this area that would bring attention to it."

"You're here." X replied softly. "I wouldn't call that 'nothing.'"

Alia blinked in surprise and felt her cheeks heat up slightly.

"You're the Senior Technical Spotter and Head of Communications Dispatch for the Hunters. Despite the fact that you weren't designed with combat in mind, you're also a Hunter, Alia. That's all the reason most mavericks need."

"R-right." Alia forced her mind back onto the situation at hand. "But, if I came with you, I'd probably only get in the way. I've had combat training, yes, but I'm nowhere near the skill level of even the newest member of your unit. If we encountered the enemy, you'd probably spend half your efforts trying to make sure I was safe, instead of neutralizing the invaders. I don't want to be a distraction that gets you hurt." Alia shook her head.

"I'm not leaving you on your own out here, Alia." X replied. "The 9th is searching the grounds, but until they reached this position, you'd be on your own. I'll be far more reassured if I knew you were somewhere safe, than if I'd left you here."

"But-"

"I'm not going to leave you alone, Alia." X replied firmly, reaching out and resting his hand on her shoulder. "Listen. The closest building complex is the Mech garage. Echo and squad 8 are already there with Douglas and his security force. The 1st Unit should have a squad or two arriving there shortly, to take over defense. We'll go there and rendezvous with squad 8. The garage is fortified and blast shielded, easily defensible. You'll be a lot safer there than you would be here. You'll also have direct terminal access to the mainframe from there. Once the 1st arrives, I'll take squad 8 and head to the main complex to join the rest of the 17th in securing the building. Okay?"

Alia nodded. "All right." She smiled slightly. "Sounds like a plan."

"Right." X nodded. "Stay close." X uncurled from his defensive crouch as he activated his X-buster. Alia nodded and activated her own weapons system as she moved to guard his back. Her red and pink armor gauntlet split apart and shifted forward to reform into her own Alia Buster cannon.

While her armor was certainly effective and had passed all Hunter regulations, it was lightweight and had not been designed with active combat in mind. This had not deterred her from upgrading her buster gauntlets. While she was unable to achieve the same plasma energy levels that X could sustain with his X-buster, her buster cannon was certainly nothing to sneeze at.

X took point as Alia followed closely, their busters set to charge as their sensor systems scoured the surroundings for any indication of the enemy.

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A space of a few minutes later found the two crouched at the base of a tree, behind a low wall covered in hanging flower vines. Ahead of them stretched the gently rising grass slope that rose to the front entrance of the Mech garage.

An area of open space surrounded the garage itself. The lawn slopes fronted two sides where pathways led to the doors, and a tarmac lot extended from the opposite two sides. The tarmac lot stretched from the deployment doors, which allowed the various vehicles entry and exit, to the vehicle driveway that intersected the network of base roads. The base roadway network eventually linked up with the visitor and main parking areas before arriving at the gates.

The stretch of open ground between X and Alia and their goal lacked any potential cover for defensive purposes. They had paused here in order to assess the situation at the garage before attempting entry. Neither of them was picking up any sign of hostiles in the area, and there was no sign of disturbance in the garage complex, aside from the rhythmic pulse of the alarm sequence.

X was crouched on one knee, facing the garage, while Alia crouched behind him, watching the trees and brush around them. X activated his communications system and opened a link on squad 8's channel. "Echo, do you read?"

"I'm here, sir."

"What's your status?"

"Still in the Mech garage. No one from the 1st has arrived yet. We've taken up position at the entrances, reinforcing the security team. No hostiles detected."

"Alia and I are on the west side of the building. We're coming to join you. I'd greatly appreciate not getting any extra holes, so let whoever's in charge of the west door know not to shoot the short guy in blue or the lady in pink."

"Won't be a problem, sir. I've got the west. Come on in, the door's open." Echo chuckled.

"On our way." X signed off and turned to Alia. "We've got our invite. Let's go."

Alia nodded and followed X up and over the three-foot wall and across the lawn to the pathway that led to the door. As they approached the door, it opened, four armed and armored members of squad 8 stepping quickly out and taking up positions to either side to provide cover-fire, if necessary. X dropped back to take rear-guard behind Alia, and the four other Hunters fell in around them as they backed through the doorway into the building.

As soon as they were safely inside, the door was shut and secured once more as their escort resumed their defensive positions along the hallway. Echo slipped out of the opening at the end of the short hall that widened out into the mechanic personnel offices that took up this corner of the complex. The head of the security team assigned to the garage complex accompanied her. Both were decked in full battle gear, though their weapons were not drawn.

Echo in full combat gear was a study in contrast. For such a slender, delicate-seeming female, with her slight build, silver hair, and pale blue eyes, she could tote weapons of mass destruction with an ease that surprised most. Mounted on the shoulder of her silver armor was a very large, triple-revolving barrel, plasma cannon. Currently, it was swiveled back and down to rest across her back, barrels pointed safely upward. Despite her small stature, she could easily keep up with even the biggest member of her squad when it came to mass destruction with heavy artillery.

The reploid accompanying her was a male dog-type, styled to resemble a Doberman. He towered over Echo as he paced alongside her down the hall toward them. The insignia of the HQ security force and the bars of a squad leader were emblazoned on his shoulder armor epaulette. X led Alia down the hallway to meet them.

As soon as they came into easy speaking range, Echo saluted even as her gaze tracked over the both of them, searching for any signs of injury or combat. "Sir."

X nodded briskly back and released her from formality as she and the security team leader fell into step alongside him and Alia. "What's the status here?"

"Not much to say, sir." The security officer spoke up. "We've secured the building and Douglas has locked down the conveyer lifts to secure the mechs in the lower level berths. Most of the mechanics and engineers have been evacuated to the lower level crisis shelter rooms. The only ones who remained aboveground are the handful piloting Ride armors in the main garage bay, and Douglas. There's no sign of any hostiles anywhere in the garage complex or the surrounding area."

"Have you heard anything from the Command Center, Doburick?" Alia queried from X's other side.

"No ma'am. Nothing beyond the initial alert." He shook his head and laid his ears flat against his skull, "To think… Mavericks on base…" He growled, lips pulling back from his sharp teeth reflexively, "The nerve…"

X nodded briskly. "Agreed. But there's no sense in snapping at shadows. Stay on alert, but make sure no one gets trigger-happy. The 1st is sending people here, and the 9th is going to be searching the grounds. We don't want any friendly-fire incidents."

Doburick's ears flicked forward and then down in sheepishness. "Of course not, sir. I didn't mean…"

X smiled reassuringly, "I know. You and your team are doing well. Just don't get carried away, and keep your heads. We want the invaders alive, if at all possible. If there's a breach in our defenses, we need to know where and what. Scrap metal can't tell us that."

"Yes sir." Doburick's ears perked up.

"Be sure all your people know."

Doburick nodded and saluted before turning down a cross hallway to deliver the caution.

X nodded before turning to Echo. "Do you know where Douglas is?"

"Of course. I'll take you to him. He's in his office." Echo nodded and picked up the pace slightly, leading the way.

Within moments they had passed beyond the bureaucratic front offices and halls and entered into areas the actual mechanical engineers frequented. The atmosphere and décor was far less formal and more casual in this area. It was also geared more toward the techno-geek. Obscure technical posters, and notes filled with inside jokes and running gags, understandable only to those also in-the-know, dotted the walls and covered the occasional bulletin board. The hall shortly opened out into a workspace that was lined on either side with offices for the more senior mechanics and engineers. The far end of the wide room opened out through enormous open bay doors into the main garage hall.

Tables, counters, and assorted spaces scattered around the workshop were devoted to an assortment of mainly unrecognizable constructs of mechanical and technical gizmos and devices in various stages of repair (and disrepair). What might, or might not, have been an entire, though disassembled, ride chaser was suspended from the ceiling by a mechanical scaffolding harness.

In the main garage hall, X could just see three of the six locked down elevator lift conveyors that led down into the lower garage berth levels where the assorted vehicles, chasers, and Ride Armors were parked when not in use. The massive exit bay doors were shut and secured. Three manned Ride Armors were positioned facing each of the massive doors as a line of heavy defense in case hostiles made it into the building. Several small teams of Hunters were stationed at strategic defensive points around the massive chamber. While X could only see the teams positioned at ground level, he knew there were others higher up, positioned in upper-level rooms that overlooked the garage and in the scaffolding close to the high ceiling.

Echo led them across the workshop to the office that fronted the main garage bay on the left side of the room. Windows in the room would have looked out into the workshop, if it weren't for the back of a large sheet of blueprints that blocked out the entire window from inside the office. The door beside the covered window was open, showing a glimpse into a haphazardly cluttered room.

As they reached the door, Echo rapped on the frame. "Hey in there."

"Oh, Echo! Come on in." Douglas glanced up from the blueprints he had splayed across his desktop. "I was just about to…" Douglas cut himself off as he spotted the other two. "X! Alia! What in the world are you two doing here? I was sure you'd be in the main building by now." Douglas set down the sheaf of papers he was holding and came around the desk.

"Well, you know X." Alia smiled as she and X followed Echo into the office. "Always has to make sure everyone else is okay first."

"Heh. Should have guessed. Well, come in, the both of you. Sorry about the mess." Douglas moved to clear a stack of diagrams and circuit boards from the least cluttered of the chairs. He paused mid-gather and glanced at the doorway. "Isn't Doburick with you?"

"No. He went to continue the rounds to each checkpoint, and make sure everyone knows to take prisoners, if possible." Echo replied as she leaned up against the desk.

"Leave that there, Douglas. No need to move all this stuff. I'm sure you've got enough trouble trying to find anything in here. You don't need everything shifted around. I'm sure we won't be long." Alia waved Douglas back from the cluttered chairs.

"I'm sure Douglas knows where everything is," Echo grinned, "You know the best tech engineers always have their own personalized 'filing' system."

Douglas chuckled, "If you say so. Though I really should make more of an effort to keep at least a few chairs free. Especially if this becomes routine. I've had more visitors in here today since the alarm started than I usually have in an entire day." Douglas shook his head.

"What were you saying as we came in?" Echo asked as Douglas returned to his original position behind the desk.

"Oh, right. I was just about to contact you and Doburick. I know you said we wouldn't need any more Ride armors on defense, but what about mechs? Sprocket's overhauled a number of mech guard hounds that we've got on sublevel six. Upgraded the armor and added laser weapons. They're small enough to take into any of the rooms, and are highly maneuverable, while still being able to handle a good deal of punishment and give as good as they get. I'm pretty sure he's managed to finish the upgrades for at least a dozen of them. They won't need handlers and can really bolster the defenses. They were going to be turned over to the base security force once Sprocket finished, anyway. What do you say we give them a test run?"

"Sounds good." Echo nodded, "We're going to be spread pretty thin until the 1st arrives to reinforce the garage. Doburick and his security team are doing well as is, especially considering he was just recently promoted to team leader, but they can still use the help."

Douglas nodded. "Good. I'll have Sprocket and Jazzeira bring up whatever they have operational and turn them over to Doburick." Douglas shifted the stack of project report papers to the side to get a better look at the garage floor plan blueprints spread out across his desk. "The mech hounds will probably work best in the smaller rooms and hallways. Any enemies will be hard pressed to put distance between them and the dogs to take them out from a distance."

X nodded. "The security team uses mainly distance weapons. The mech hounds will make good close combat shock troops to buy the security team time to pick them off, or to avoid being cornered in close quarters."

"Precisely." Douglas grinned. "That's why security wanted them. I'm just sorry we didn't have them finished before this happened."

"I'm sure the teams in other buildings would have welcomed them." Alia smiled, "But for now, we need to concentrate on the situation at hand. Have you received any news from the Command Center, Douglas?"

Douglas shook his head. "I haven't heard back from the Command Center beyond the initial alert. Though I've been too busy trying to herd engineers and techs into the safe rooms on the sublevels, while making sure no one was missing, to check the main system. Have you heard anything on the location?"

"Nothing conclusive yet." Alia shook her head. "The system was still tracing the signal origin, last I checked. But it's been tentatively narrowed down to somewhere in the main complex."

X nodded. "The 1st unit should have some people here to reinforce you soon. When they get here, I'll need to take the 8th squad to the main complex and rendezvous with the majority of the 17th."

"Of course, especially if the alarm was set off inside the building." Douglas nodded. "Are you going to head to the Command Center, Alia?"

Alia shook her head. "No. I don't want the 17th to feel they need to baby-sit me. I'll be staying here, at least until the hostiles have been located."

"I could use the help coordinating all of this, and keeping track of the situation through the main computer system." Douglas nodded. "Do you need access to my terminal?" Douglas gestured to his computer terminal set to the side of his crescent curved desk.

Alia nodded. "Thanks. That'll be a great help." She maneuvered around the desk, slipping between two stacks of boxes filled with tools and circuitry, and slid into the offered chair. A moment later and she was immersed in the security system.

"Is there any new information?" X asked as he leaned slightly on the desk to get a better look at the screen.

"Nothing yet. Wait… All the units on base have been accounted for, except for the new recruit squads."

"The new recruits? Isn't Zero in charge of them today?" X blinked.

"Yeah. That's odd though. Why wouldn't Zero have reported in?" Alia frowned.

"I don't know." X's brow furrowed in concern.

Douglas frowned slightly. "The rookies? I thought they had been released from training early today. I saw a bunch of them running around the main garage earlier. Looked like they were goofing off with teleport hopping. Although… That's pretty advanced stuff. You don't suppose Zero was teaching them _that_? Do you?"

"I don't think so… He had them for combat training…" Alia frowned slightly.

The brief silence was broken by the soft click of a connecting communicator. "Zero, come in. This is X. Where are you?"

The silence of an empty communications channel filled the room.

"Zero, come in. Answer me. Where are you?" X's voice was laced with increasing worry.

"Try his personal frequency." Alia suggested.

X scowled. "This is his channel. The 0th is off duty today."

Alia bit her lower lip slightly then turned quickly back to the computer terminal. In seconds she had patched a secure link through to the Command Center. A small vid-link window opened up on the screen showing the upper body of her fellow navigator.

"Layer, do you read me?"

The slightly distracted looking woman turned in surprise to look down at her own screen through her purple bangs. "Alia? I hear you. What do you need?"

"Layer, do you know where Zero is?"

"Zero?" Layer ducked her head slightly, hiding her features behind her hair. "I-er… don't keep track of him."

"Layer, this is important. He's not responding to his communicator frequency. Do you know where he is, or his last known position?"

Layer looked up in surprise; worry clear in her eyes as her bangs parted for an instant. "He's not? He was training the new recruits today… H-hang on." She turned slightly from the vid-link window and began rapidly working on her keyboard. After a moment she paused and turned back. "He should still be on base, the system indicates he hasn't checked out at any of the gates. I-I don't know why he wouldn't respond to his channel, but have you tried the rookie unit frequency?"

"No. What is it?"

"I'll send it. Just a second." Layer turned back to her keyboard. A second later, Alia received the frequency in another data window.

"Got it." X spoke up from just behind Alia, making her jump slightly in surprise. She hadn't heard him come around the desk. X switched his communicator to the new frequency and opened a channel. "Zero, come in. Do you read me?"

There was another moment of dead air. "Try again." Alia spoke up softly.

X nodded. "Anyone on this channel, do you read me? Someone respond."

For an instant, there was silence. Then the quiet was broken by a crackle of static noise that abruptly resolved into a male voice. "Ah… This is recruit Orisin. I read you." There was a pause and X opened his mouth to reply but was cut off. "Ack! No, no! Get down!" A muffled whoomp sound filled the channel. X and Echo exchanged alarmed glances before Orisin's voice sounded again. "Er… This isn't such a good time. Maybe you could call back- Get down damnit!- um… later?" Another muffled explosion sounded in the background, followed quickly by the sound of rapid-fire projectile weapons.

"Orisin? Orisin! Come in? Are you all right?" X called urgently.

"Oh gah… Er… Yeah, I mean… yeah. They really need to work on their aim." The sounds of combat and others, shouting in the background, carried across the channel. "Er… Really not a good time to talk, though. Kind of busy. Could you maybe call back later?"

"Call back later?" Douglas blinked in shock.

"Orisin? Where are you? What's your situation? Respond!"

"Uh… Main complex… I think… maybe… I don't know… I lost track…"

Just then another, familiar, voice came faintly across the channel in the background. "Damnit! Pay attention! Will you listen to me already! Don't make me come over there! I'll kick your-"

Zero's shouting was cut off abruptly by Orisin's voice. "Look out!"

Another muffled boom and screaming sounded across the link, closely followed by a yelp that might have belonged to Orisin. Then another panicked voice wailed in the background just before the channel went dead again. "Oh my god! He's been hit! They hit him! Oh god! Zero's down! _Zero's_ down!"

The color drained from X's face. Alia clapped her hand over her mouth to stifle a gasp as the others went pale. Layer, in the vid-link window, slumped in her seat, looking as though she'd just been struck.

"Orisin! Orisin!" Static was the only answer.

X turned stricken, desperate eyes to Alia. He didn't have to say a word. She spun around abruptly in her seat and her hands flew over the keyboard. An instant later and she answered him. "Transmission pinpointed inside the main complex. Floor 16, north stairwell. Diagnostics report an all clear on the perimeter and main complex teleport shields. Go."

X activated his teleport system and established a link with the satellite. Even as he used targeting satellites to cross-reference his mental HQ map database and pinpoint the location of the signal, Echo patched through to Mara.

"Mara, this is Echo. Zero has engaged the hostile force with the rookie unit on floor 16. Get some people up there on the double. X is on his way, and we have reason to believe Zero is down. I repeat, Zero has been reported down. X is on his way to reinforce their position. Send someone to floor 16, north hallway, as soon as possible."

"I read you, Echo. Vixen is already on her way with squad 3 and security team 12."

X filed that information away in the back of his mind, the rest of his thoughts focused on isolating a safe location to teleport into. In seconds he had isolated the hallway and had activated infrared satellite targeting to pinpoint the locations of the combatants. It was impossible to tell who was who, but there were two main clusters of heat signatures in the hallway. One group about halfway down the hall, and the second clustered in the stairwell. X picked an entry point farther down the hall and fed the coordinates to his teleport system. It was possible that some of the combatants could be using cloaking or heat refraction technology to mask their presence. So, to be safe, X added six feet of height onto the z-axis coordinates.

X shifted his hand into his X-buster and began charging, even as he activated his teleportation system. As the crackle of energies arced across his body he saw Alia turn to face him. The last thing he heard before his world dissolved in light was, "Be careful."

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X rematerialized six feet above the ground, crouched to be certain to clear the ceiling and in preparation for the drop to the floor. Even as he uncurled and began falling to the floor, X extended his sensors in all directions, searching for the hostile force.

X took stock of the tactical situation in seconds.

The right side of the hallway was almost entirely windows that looked out onto the HQ grounds. The left wall was dotted with doorways that X knew opened into conference and supply storage rooms. This section of the building was usually fairly deserted because the office personnel that worked up here rarely used the rooms in this hallway unless they needed to send someone for office supplies.

X's proximity sensors indicated that there was no one in the hallway behind him. The only people he was detecting in this hallway were in the passage in front of him and the stairwell at the end of the hall.

A short distance down the hall ahead of him was a small group of slightly panicked rookies. They had taken cover between a planter stand and a padded bench on the left side of the hallway. The four rookies were wearing full battle gear and had weapons primed and at the ready. Beyond them, at the end of the hallway, was the doorway to the north stairwell. X could just make out the forms of several other rookies he recognized from a lecture he'd given earlier that month. The other group of rookies was using the stairwell and open doorway for cover. There was no sign of Zero, but the floor around the doorway and the doorjamb was spattered with thick red liquid.

X felt his throat constrict in fear at the sight of the fresh fluid staining the walls and floor. However, he could detect no presence of a hostile force. As he landed on the floor, his boots hit with a metallic thump. At the sound, the rookie closest to him spun around, nearly dropping her weapon in surprise, closely mimicked by her three companions. The tall, mouse-type rookie closest to him flicked her ears back in horrified dismay as her eyes widened in panic. The deer-type reploid and the short, human-type reploid behind her, fumbled for their weapons even as she reached for hers.

X decided to take an old rule to heart. 'When you can't see the enemy, follow your comrades' lead.'

Since there was no enemy between them, X realized there must have been a cloaked or hidden invader behind him. He spun around, buster cannon leading, to face the threat.

Except, the hallway behind him was empty.

Just as X was trying to figure out what was going on, he heard the unmistakable sound of weapons fire behind him. This was closely accompanied by his proximity sensors screaming in warning. X had just been shot at.

X spun back around, dropping into a crouch to try to duck beneath the firing path. However, this action was too little, too late.

The range of fire was impressive. The spread of projectile bullets filled the hallway, starting from two feet above the floor and extending six feet up and three to either side.

X's eyes went wide as he threw himself back to try to bend backwards under the firing range, but had barely begun his evasive movement when the first bullets impacted against him.

The bullets slammed into X's upper armored torso and several took him full in the face, exploding on impact. X's body was thrown back as a spray of red splattered the wall beside him. The charged X-buster shot was fired in blind reflex as his body fell to the floor. The massive ball of crackling blue-white plasma surged down the hallway at an angle before slamming into the outer wall, vaporizing a huge circular section of the windows and wall as neighboring windows all along the hallway shattered and blew out.

The four rookies screamed in panic. The group in the stairwell echoed the screams, as they dove for cover. The mouse-type reploid girl held a massive modified machine-gun in shaking hands, her face white in horrified shock. The deer-type beside her dropped his modified grenade launcher to the ground and collapsed, covering his head with his arms as his antlers visibly quivered in fear. The female otter-type shrieked and grabbed the short human-type reploid in a crushing hug, wailing that she didn't want to die.

The lift doors at the far end of the hallway opened, spilling armed and battle-ready Hunters into the hall. Vixen, squad 3, and security team 12 had just arrived at this chaotic scene.

The first things that registered to Vixen, and most of the 17th squad members, were the massive hole in the building, and the red stained, limp body of their commanding officer.

"No…" Vixen whispered in shock as she realized who the red soaked form was. "X!" she shouted as she moved forward, high-powered, laser assault rifle at the ready. But there were no hostiles in sight, just hysterical rookies.

From the far end of the hallway, where another group of panicked rookies were taking cover in the stairwell, Zero staggered out into the hallway. He was limping slightly, and his armor was liberally spattered with dripping red and looked slightly battered. He blinked and looked around before his eyes landed on the motionless blue-armored figure, "X?"

The mouse-type rookie squeaked in horror as her enormous machine-gun dropped to the floor with a resounding clatter. "X?" she gasped, staring at the prone figure. Her wide eyes darted from his body, to the hole in the wall, to her commanding officer as he limped down the hallway toward her. By the time Zero reached the group of cowering rookies in the hallway, she was all but hyperventilating.

"Congratulations, Chi Chi, you managed to accomplish something the mavericks have been trying to do for decades. You just fragged Rockman X." Zero spoke levelly as he dropped his hand to the mouse-type reploid's shoulder.

Chi Chi squeaked as her face blanched, right before her eyes rolled up in her head and she collapsed in a dead faint as her emotional processors shut down to avoid overloading.

Zero ignored her and walked past to where X lay, stepping carefully to avoid slipping in the slowly spreading puddle of red fluid. Zero came to a stop and leaned over him. "You okay there, X?"

"Zero? …Funny. Considering all the hype, I always thought the afterlife would be nicer. It looks a lot like HQ, actually. Except… I'm sticky. Why am I sticky, Zero?" X's face, most of the front and top of his helmet, and almost his entire torso were coated in slightly sticky red paint.

"Funny you should mention that." Zero chuckled and rubbed the back of his helmet. "You kind of teleported right into the tail end of my training session. You, maybe, wanna sit up and show the 17th that Chi Chi didn't kill you?"

X slowly sat up, paint dripping slowly off his armor and trickling down his face to drip from his chin. "Your _training session_?"

"Well, I'm actually trying to wrap things up. But, you know how it is, once they get going…" Zero smiled sheepishly and shrugged.

"Did it perhaps occur to you that continuing a training session, with untrained rookies, _during an invasion alert_, was maybe _not_ the best idea?" X scowled up at Zero from where he sat.

"Um… About that… Heh… Whoops?"

"Whoops… _Whoops_? Zero… Explain '_whoops_' to me." X growled as he fixed Zero with a penetrating glare.

"Eheh…" Zero shifted his weight slightly and smiled nervously. "Well… It's kind of funny actually, if you think about it… You see… Apparently, someone in personnel didn't get the memo."

X blinked. "Memo? What memo?"

"The one about the training session, of course." Zero nodded. "Which is odd, because I _know_ I forwarded one to everybody." He rubbed his chin and frowned slightly. "So anyway, where was I? Oh yeah… So, um… the guy in personnel… he kind of heard the rookies fighting and uh… yeah… 'Whoops.'" Zero shrugged and smiled disarmingly.

X slowly stood up. "…So… let me get this straight… There are _no_ maverick hostiles invading the base…?"

"Um… yeah." Zero smiled tentatively.

"Zero…" X growled. "Do you have _any_ idea…? Are you _trying_ to see if reploids can have _heart attacks_!?" he cried as he grabbed Zero by the shoulder epaulettes and shook him. "When I heard you were down… Dammit! I was afraid you were dead! _Again_!" X hissed softly as he pulled Zero down closer to him.

"Now, X. Calm down. I'm fine. See?" Zero soothed as he pried his friend's sticky red fingers from his own spattered armor.

"Calm down!" X cried. "You just shaved about a century off my lifespan!"

"X? Sir? Are you all right?" Vixen hesitantly interrupted before Zero could say something to escalate the situation.

X sighed and wiped futilely at his face, "Yes, more or less." He shot a glare at Zero, "This had better wash out."

"Don't worry. Of course it washes out. I'd have never gotten approval for the paint-weapons combat session if I'd used oil-based or micro-fiber bond paints." Zero replied matter-of-factly.

"Wait… You got approval for this?" X stared at him in dumbfounded surprise.

"Of course! I sent out memos and everything, didn't you read it?"

"Memos?" Vixen blinked. "_You_ sent out memos?"

"What are you looking at me like _that_ for? I'm not completely inept at bureaucracy, you know." Zero scowled at the both of them.

X sighed and shook his head. "You're certain the alarm was triggered because of your training session?"

"Yeah, I ran into the twitchy secretary who hit the alarm when he tried to run for reinforcements. Unfortunately, I couldn't shut it down once it started, and I was kind of busy trying to get all the rookies to stop the exercise."

X sighed then opened a communications channel to Signas. "Signas, this is X. Come in."

"X, I read you. What is going on up there? We just picked up a massive plasma discharge with your power signature on it. Have you located the disturbance?"

X glared at Zero, "You could say that, sir. Zero has informed me that the alarm was triggered due to mistaken identity and jumping to conclusions."

"A _false alarm_? You've got to be kidding me."

"No sir. Apparently, someone in personnel didn't get Zero's memo."

"Memo? What memo?"

Zero scowled. "Why does everyone keep saying that? I sent it to everyone in the HQ personnel database."

"Zero, everyone knows you and paperwork don't get along very well." X replied, "It's not like it's a secret."

The sound of another transmission patching into the channel carried clearly into the hallway. "This is Alia. Is everyone all right? Surveillance shows a hole in the outer wall of the building." Her voice was laced with worry.

"There's a hole in the building!" Signas' shock carried clearly across the channel. "X, what happened?" he demanded.

X scowled as he glanced over at the hole where the afternoon breeze filtered into the paint-spattered hallway. "I teleported in ready for a firefight. A full-charge shot was released when one of Zero's rookies, participating in his combat training exercise, shot me with a rapid-fire paintball machine gun."

"_Paintball_ machine gun…?" Alia's voice trailed off in confusion.

Signas' voice cut in abruptly. He sounded rather ticked off. "What the hell were you doing, Zero! How in Light's name did you manage to be responsible for this fiasco?"

"Hey! No! This is not my fault! I am not paying for that!" Zero gestured angrily at the ruined hallway behind him. "I followed all the rules and regulations for this! Hell, I even _read_ them! I had this planned out weeks in advance. I filed all the forms, sent out the memo, posted notice, even got permissions to use modified ammunition! I filed in_ triplicate, _Signas! It is _not_ my fault some guy in personnel didn't bother to read the memo!"

"Memo? What memo?" Alia's confused question broke into Zero's emphatic rant.

"Gah! Didn't _anyone_ read the memo!?" Zero threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Apparently not." Signas replied dryly. "Just what was in this memo?"

"My training exercise plan. Essentially, a notification that I'd be leading the rookie unit in a base-wide, team combat exercise today, involving modified paintball ammunition and liberal use of short-range teleportation practice."

"And you didn't feel the need to inform me of this?" Signas ground out.

"I sent you a memo, same as everyone else. The regulations for submitting a new training plan for approval didn't say a thing about informing the High Commander for direct approval, just lots and lots of paperwork, filling out redundant forms, and getting approval from department heads. I checked. _Three times_. If all I had to do was go to you, I would have done that instead. Save me a damn lot of time instead of tacking up all those fliers." Zero grumped and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fliers?" Vixen blinked as her furred ears flicked forward in interest.

"Yeah, didn't you see them? The 0th and I went around and put up a ton of them all over base."

"No. Just what kind of fliers were these?" X asked as he glanced over at Zero.

"Well… Here, I've got one, hang on a sec." Zero pressed the release on a storage compartment in his left boot and rummaged around in the small compartment for a moment before pulling out a much-abused sheet of dark yellow paper. He handed it to X, who took it. It was already smudged with red paint and a few of the patternless fingerprints left by most reploids, X's paint covered hands couldn't do much worse to it.

X unfolded the paper and frowned as he read the short notification splayed in large letters across the page. "Are you serious? This is what you put up to notify people?" X demanded with a scowl.

"That's just the casual notice, to remind people and catch their attention. The detailed explanation I sent in the memo was too long to fit on a single sheet of paper." Zero frowned, "Haven't you seen them posted around base? I had the 0th put one up on every bulletin and message board."

"Yes, I have. But I thought it was some weird joke! You didn't expect people to take this seriously, did you?"

"What's it say?" Vixen leaned in to try to get a better look.

X sighed, "It says, '_On Sunday, the 21st, Beware of Wet Paint and Falling Rookies_'"

"Wait, you mean that's not some rookie hazing plot?" Vixen blinked in surprise.

"Did you even get this flier approved for public posting, Zero?" X asked.

"Of course! I submitted it with the memo and other paperwork for the training session alterations. It was all approved by the necessary department heads according to regulations." Zero nodded assuredly.

"Wait, you got this training change approved by department heads?" X asked in surprise.

"Yeah. I had to get approval from four different heads, and six supervisors just to get the changes to the training program approved. Isn't bureaucracy a pain in the chassis? You'd think they'd have something better to do to spend Hunter funding on."

Signas sighed, "I'm going to have to get the regulations modified… and have a few talks with those supervisors and department heads… Was anyone hurt up there?"

"No. Nothing injured besides my dignity." X scowled at Zero as he wiped paint off his blue chest armor.

Signas sighed. "Then this was 'officially' a surprise alarm drill. Zero, you and the new recruits caused this mess. You get to clean it up. That includes the paint. I do not want to be finding random paint spatters until the next time HQ gets a new coat of paint. Understood?"

"Yes sir." X and Zero replied in tandem.

"And Zero… I sincerely hope none of the recruits were traumatized by your 'training session.' Assuming I decide to give you command over a new recruit unit in the future, I expect you to ground them in the basics before throwing them into advanced training routines. Understand?"

"Yes sir. As for trauma… well… Recruit Chi Chi passed out after realizing she fragged X. I'm sure she'll be okay though." Zero paused thoughtfully, "I'm not sure whether to mark her down for passing out during combat, or give her bonus points for managing to take down X…"

"Oh, hell no! Don't you dare set a precedent with this, Zero! I'll never have any peace around here if you get the rookies thinking they'll win brownie points by paintballing me!" cried X, looking horrified.

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The End

Owari

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I would have had this out a lot sooner, except Douglas did not want to get written. He must be shy.

Everything else flowed easily, but Douglas was just stubborn. I hope I didn't botch his character…

Just to clarify, the italic-line intro bit is in reference to the teleportation data-energy stream. He turns into energy particles when in transit. So… Particle man…

Yeah. I also like the song…

Substitute 'Maverick man' for 'Triangle man' in the next verse, but have Particle win instead… :D

Also, the 65 mavericks:

Eight games times eight maverick bosses plus one Sigma equals 65. Add a few extra like High Max, Vile, and Bit and Byte, etc. etc.

As for the elusive not-noticed memo from Zero… He did send it. It's just that everyone thought it was fake and it ended up in their junk message folders.

Zero's memo was just not feeling the love. :P

So… Did I fool you? Did you go, "Zoh Nos! Zero's been hurt! X is dead!!!"

Poor Chi Chi. Zero traumatized the poor rookies.

Poor X, for that matter. Zero is kind of like a localized disaster, even when he's trying not to be. :P

The 'Falling Rookies' bit is because the rookies would be practicing short-range teleporting, and locating viable re-materialization positions around the base for future use. Because of this, they would generally be picking coordinates well above the ground or floor in order to avoid teleporting in on top of someone else. So they'd rematerialize like X did, in the air, dropping to the floor.

Oh, and if you're wondering, Axl was off-duty that day. And X was out in the garden while his unit was training because he was shirking paperwork. (wink)

Just so you know, I'm not sure whether or not to try to take the Zero – Layer dynamic anywhere. They certainly aren't together at this point, and they may not ever get together in my stories. I'm still trying to figure out if I like the idea of them together or not.

However, I will openly write Layer as seriously crushing on Zero. She isn't the only female to be majorly attracted to Zero, after all. Whether or not he returns the emotions at some point, is yet to be decided.

Time, and my completion of X8 and any future X games, will tell.

**Reviewer Replies:**

**Gizoid1337**:

As for Dr. Psyche, well I don't know who that is exactly, but I understand what you're asking… I think…

Anyway, not all reploid's neural networks are located in their heads. They are constructed beings after all, there's no evolutionary precedent to dictate where their brains should be located. For all we know, some reploids could have their neural matrix located in their rear end. Gives an all new meaning to the term 'dumbass.'

Also, some reploids could have secondary minor generators that maintain power for their floating head to avoid a shut-down due to power loss. It would have to be a limited reserve power grid; I doubt any reploids could survive for extended periods as just a head without the main generator. It could also simply run off of an energy reserve for a short time, rather than an active generator. But as long as the neural buffers maintain their charge, the power grid shouldn't suffer and the neural matrix won't be wiped from a power surge when the head re-attaches to the main generator power grid.

**dragoonknight1:**

I suppose if you want to use some of my characters you can. Though, I'm sure you could come up with your own with a bit of effort.

If you do decide to use my characters though, please send me an email explaining which ones you want to use, and mention somewhere in your story's disclaimer that they were created by me and are borrowed with permission. Also, I'd appreciate it if you mentioned that they're from 'Reploid Anatomy 101.'

It would also be nice if you could send me a link to your story once you start posting it.

I know it's sort of fic advertising, but I lovses the reviews, and the more who read and leave me reviews with constructive feedback, the better my writing will get, and the more motivated I will be to spend time writing rather than playing on my PS2 or on computer games.

**Rogue Hunter:**

Glad to have you back. I was wondering if you'd gotten bored with 'Anatomy.' Or just couldn't find time.

Heh. Dynamo is kind of doing that. He does want to be acknowledged as one of the greatest, if not _the_ greatest. So he's got to defeat the greatest in combat. But, he currently has a more-or-less clean record at the moment and doesn't want to get on the openly bad side of the law right now. So he can't go pick a fight with Zero or X. But… if one of them should happen to throw the first punch… Why, then it would be self-defense, wouldn't it? (evil grin)

quick edit won't let smiley faces or evil faces show up, so gotta resort to parenthesis words…

**Macross-Green:**

I hope to hear from you again too, Macross. Here's a new chapter for your enjoyment. At least one more after this, though I need to figure out a story segment that will go with the technical blurb on busters. The technical blurb on its own is three pages long…

Yup, you heard right. I monkey'd around with the mechanics of how the hand goes away when the buster cannon is formed. Not to mention the buster cannon itself. I just need to find a way to feature it in a story.

Keep an eye out for it. :D

**spectre:**

SPOILERS for Zero series games (assuming my assumptions are accurate…)

Actually, I believe the last I heard, Harpuia was male, only Leviathan was female. Also, from what I understand, Ciel is human. At least, I think that's the general current consensus. I haven't played any of the Zero games so I may be wrong about that.

I thought X's real body was destroyed in Zero2, which is what freed the dark elf.

END SPOILERS

I'm afraid I won't be using Ciel in my story, spectre. Unless some weird freak time travel/interdimensional portal thing happens. Which isn't all that likely considering 'Reploid Anatomy 101' has no actual overall plotline.

'Reploid Anatomy 101' is set in the X series timeline and disregards the events of the Zero series. My story goes AU from wherever Capcom decides to end the X series, and Zero does not seal himself away for hibernation for 102 years, or whatever.

So, sorry, but no Copy X, no Neo Arcadia, no Elpizio, no Leviathan, Harpuia, Fafnir, or Phantom, no dark elf, no cyber elves, and no Ciel.

**Erckie:**

Not sure what else I can say about the circulatory system that I haven't already mentioned. But I'll consider it.

**J:**

Nope, never heard of that law. I've heard of Ghost in the Shell though. Must have missed that part, or just forgot.

Don't know if I'll use the zeroth law, but thanks for the information.

Well that's all for now.

Hope to hear from all of you wonderful readers and reviewers.

As always… reviews, comments, opinions, and criticisms welcome. Tell me what you think.

Till next time.


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